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Jowhar, 
Somalia
257,210 people lived in Jowhar in 2025. It is the 2273rd largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 10th largest in Somalia.
This is the UN's built-up area, drawn from satellite pictures and census maps rather than from the city limits, and the two can be a long way apart. The rule behind it.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Jowhar grew
Where Jowhar had 10 people in 1975, it had 30.9 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 559,739 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2005 and 2010.
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
Jowhar through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Jowhar in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Somalia · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Somalia and its 53 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Mogadishu). Jowhar is ringed, in colour; the other cities are grey. Neighbouring countries are outlines.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Jowhar covered 13 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 1.8 km² of it. That is 7 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 3 by 3 metres. Since 2005, its built-up land has grown by 80%, and its people have grown by 12%.
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 Somalia
Its share of Somalia
Of every 100 people in Somalia in 2025, 1 lived in Jowhar, which is 257,210 people.
How to read this: 100 squares, one for every 100th person in Somalia; the coloured squares live in Jowhar. 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
- 2266 Zahrat Laban Saudi Arabia257,467
- 2267 Cabo San Lucas Mexico257,436
- 2268 Murrieta United States257,413
- 2270 Otukpo Nigeria257,334
- 2273 Jowhar257,210
- 2274 Arraiján Panama257,136
- 2275 Vanderbijlpark South Africa257,093
- 2276 Keren Eritrea256,896
- 2278 Ogu Nigeria256,345
In Somalia, 2025
- 1571 Borama363,753
- 1823 Wanlaweyn314,824
- 1915 Merca299,906
- 1992 Beledweyne291,630
- 2273 Jowhar257,210
- 2528 Bosaso232,410
- 3241 Balcad186,328
- 3615 Berbera167,119
- 4305 Buulo Mareer141,522
How to read this: the figure in front of a name is where that city stands among the 12,138 cities the UN counted in 2025, and each bar is its people, on one scale per list. Numbers are missing where a city has fewer than 300,000 people and so has no page of its own.
Apparatus
Sources and method
The figures for Jowhar 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 Jowhar 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