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Jolo, 
Philippines
74,210 people lived in Jolo in 2025. It is the 8410th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 85th largest in the Philippines.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Jolo governs, so it may be far from the number the city publishes about itself. How the UN measures a city.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Jolo grew
Where Jolo had 10 people in 1975, it had 1.5 in 2025, fewer than it started with.
On the UN's projection it will have 51,948 people in 2040. It leaves the UN's list after 2040. The UN's figures for Jolo fall from 511,040 in 1975 to 51,948 in 2040. The UN rates its own confidence in the 1975 figure as moderate: cities are counted from census maps, and where those are old or coarse the figures are least certain.
projected (after 2025) · how sure the UN is: high moderate low
How to read this: each column is one of the UN's five-yearly estimates, 1975 through 2050, and taller means more people. Where a column is hatched the year has not happened yet. The strip under the columns is the UN's own confidence in each figure, palest where it is least sure; where it is blank the city was not on the list at all.
People · your family's years · 1975 to 2050
Jolo through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Jolo in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Philippines · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Jolo is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of the Philippines in 2025, 114 in all, led by Manila, 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, Jolo covered 12 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 1.9 km² of it. That is 26 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 5 by 5 metres. Since 1995, its built-up land has grown by 46%, and its people have fallen by 76%.
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 the Philippines
Its share of the Philippines
Of every 1,000 people in the Philippines in 2025, 1 lived in Jolo, which is 74,210 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares, one for every 1,000th person in the Philippines; the coloured squares live in Jolo. 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
- 7870 Enugu-Ezike Nigeria79,250
- 8055 Sassalemba Angola77,355
- 8155 Harichand Pakistan76,461
- 8197 Pattan India75,975
- 8410 Jolo74,210
- 8652 Walungu Democratic Republic of the Congo71,897
- 8887 Ikot Ide Nigeria69,806
- 8905 Wenago Ethiopia69,703
- 9118 Chelenko Ethiopia67,991
In the Philippines, 2025
- 2101 San Pablo276,250
- 2132 Cabanatuan272,890
- 2394 Panabo244,050
- 4537 Marawi134,181
- 8410 Jolo74,210
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 Jolo 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 Jolo 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