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Hossana, 
Ethiopia
221,895 people lived in Hossana in 2025. It is the 2661st largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 22nd largest in Ethiopia.
Like every city on this site, Hossana is counted as a built-up area seen from above rather than as a city government's territory. Why that changes the number.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Hossana grew
Count 10 people in Hossana in 1985 and the same count gives 37.3 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 352,943 people in 2050. On the UN's projection it passes 250,000 people between 2030 and 2035. The UN first counts it as a city in 1985, when it passed 50,000 people.
projected (after 2025) · how sure the UN is: high moderate low
How to read this: one column every five years, 1975 to 2050; its height is the number of people. Hatched columns are the UN's projection. The thin strip beneath says how sure the UN is of each figure: the stronger the colour, the surer. A blank means the place was not on the UN's list of cities that year.
People · your family's years · 1975 to 2050
Hossana through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Hossana in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Ethiopia · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Hossana is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Ethiopia in 2025, 259 in all, led by Addis Ababa, each drawn with an area that matches its people. Countries next door are outlines only.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Hossana covered 42 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 9.7 km² of it. That is 44 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 7 by 7 metres. Since 1985, its built-up land has grown to 8.8 times its size, and its people are 3.7 times as many.
How to read this: each pale square is the city's whole area, the strong square inside it the part that is built on; one scale for all three, so a bigger square is more land. Hatched is the UN's projection.
Of every 100 people in Ethiopia
Its share of Ethiopia
Of every 1,000 people in Ethiopia in 2025, 2 lived in Hossana, which is 221,895 people.
How to read this: shrink Ethiopia to 1,000 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Hossana; the grey ones are everybody else, in other cities, in towns and out in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 2648 Ahmedpur East Pakistan223,056
- 2649 Buea Cameroon222,996
- 2652 Sambrial Pakistan222,828
- 2657 Toba Tek Singh Pakistan222,349
- 2661 Hossana221,895
- 2662 Sahebganj India221,858
- 2663 Mzuzu Malawi221,840
- 2670 Charlotte United States221,000
- 2674 Az Zubayr Iraq220,737
In Ethiopia, 2025
- 2407 Quiha243,110
- 2472 Bonsa Bota237,061
- 2610 Harar225,677
- 2612 Naqamte225,503
- 2661 Hossana221,895
- 2737 Asella215,594
- 2920 Alaba Kulito204,316
- 3568 Kefole169,474
- 3575 Aleta Wendo169,004
How to read this: names are in order of size, the leading number being each city's rank among all 12,138 in 2025; the bars share a scale within a list. A jump in the ranks means a city under 300,000 people, which is not given a page here.
Apparatus
Sources and method
The figures for Hossana are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1985 to 2025, then projection to 2050. Projected years are drawn hatched, and the UN publishes no range of uncertainty for a city. What a city means here, how the UN measures one, and why that number can differ from the one Hossana publishes about itself: how the figures here are put together.
Sources: UN WUP 2025 · Natural Earth · flag-icons. Every source, its licence and how to cite it →
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries