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Jalalabad, 
Afghanistan
587,508 people lived in Jalalabad in 2025. It is the 927th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 5th largest in Afghanistan.
The UN measures every city in the world the same way, by where the buildings are rather than where the boundary runs, so this figure and Jalalabad's own can differ widely. What counts as a city here.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Jalalabad grew
Count 10 people in Jalalabad in 1975 and the same count gives 87.8 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 910,276 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2000 and 2005.
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
Jalalabad through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Jalalabad in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Afghanistan · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Jalalabad is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Afghanistan in 2025, 85 in all, led by Kabul, 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, Jalalabad covered 126 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 26 km² of it. That is 44 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 7 by 7 metres. Since 1980, its built-up land has grown to 26.1 times its size, and its people are 8.3 times as many.
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 Afghanistan
Its share of Afghanistan
Of every 100 people in Afghanistan in 2025, 1 lived in Jalalabad, which is 587,508 people.
How to read this: 100 squares, one for every 100th person in Afghanistan; the coloured squares live in Jalalabad. The grey rest live in other cities, in towns or in the countryside.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 923 Darjeeling India590,052
- 924 Brahmapur India590,028
- 925 Weihai China589,850
- 926 Benguela Angola589,289
- 927 Jalalabad587,508
- 928 Sagar India587,471
- 929 Ballari India587,340
- 930 Deoria India586,987
- 931 Kuching Malaysia586,880
In Afghanistan, 2025
- 68 Kabul5,635,737
- 405 Herat1,259,425
- 662 Kandahar799,015
- 834 Mazar i sharif651,287
- 927 Jalalabad587,508
- 2003 Taloqan290,028
- 2028 Kunduz287,295
- 2560 Maymana229,355
- 2574 Puli Khumri228,271
How to read this: the number before each name is its place among all 12,138 cities in the world in 2025; bars are people, on one scale per list. Only cities that reach 300,000 people have a page here, so a gap in the numbers is a smaller city.
Apparatus
Sources and method
The figures for Jalalabad 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 Jalalabad 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