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Irgalem, 
Ethiopia
246,701 people lived in Irgalem in 2025. It is the 2366th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 17th largest in Ethiopia.
Like every city on this site, Irgalem 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 Irgalem grew
Count 10 people in Irgalem in 1975 and the same count gives 26.3 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 1.0 million people in 2050. On the UN's projection it passes a million people between 2045 and 2050.
projected (after 2025) · how sure the UN is: high moderate low
How to read this: read it left to right, 1975 to 2050, one column every five years, the height being people. Hatching marks the projected years. Below, a strip of the UN's confidence: strong colour where the census maps are recent and detailed, pale where they are not, blank where the place was not counted as a city.
People · your family's years · 1975 to 2050
Irgalem through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Irgalem in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Ethiopia · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Irgalem 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, Irgalem covered 25 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 2.1 km² of it. That is 9 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 3 by 3 metres. Since 2000, its built-up land has grown to 2.1 times its size, and its people have grown by 60%.
How to read this: the outer pale square stands for all the land the city covers, and the solid square inside it for the part with buildings, roads and the like on it. All three squares share a scale, so you can compare them by eye. A hatched one is a year the UN has projected.
Of every 100 people in Ethiopia
Its share of Ethiopia
Of every 1,000 people in Ethiopia in 2025, 2 lived in Irgalem, which is 246,701 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares stand for everyone in Ethiopia, one square for every 1,000th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Irgalem's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 2358 Qus Egypt247,941
- 2360 Kipushi Democratic Republic of the Congo247,546
- 2362 Sreemangal Bangladesh247,298
- 2364 Koforidua Ghana246,770
- 2366 Irgalem246,701
- 2368 Phan Thiết Vietnam246,665
- 2371 Obuasi Ghana245,920
- 2373 Saidpur Bangladesh245,655
- 2374 Yamoussoukro Côte d’Ivoire245,612
In Ethiopia, 2025
- 1881 Mek'elē305,037
- 2012 Kombolcha288,941
- 2185 Bule Hora267,051
- 2209 Arsi Negelle264,039
- 2366 Irgalem246,701
- 2407 Quiha243,110
- 2472 Bonsa Bota237,061
- 2610 Harar225,677
- 2612 Naqamte225,503
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 Irgalem are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1975 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 Irgalem 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