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Cities · Democratic Republic of the Congo
Kananga, 
Democratic Republic of the Congo
1,504,370 people lived in Kananga in 2025. It is the 336th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 5th largest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Kananga 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 Kananga grew
Where Kananga had 10 people in 1975, it had 138.2 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 2.8 million people in 2050. It passed a million people between 2015 and 2020.
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
Kananga through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Kananga in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Democratic Republic of the Congo · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: every dot is one of the 223 cities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2025, and a dot's area is how many people live there, the biggest being Kinshasa. The ringed dot in colour is Kananga; the grey dots are the rest. The outlines around them are neighbouring countries.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Kananga covered 106 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 21 km² of it. That is 14 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 4 by 4 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 2.8 times its size, and its people are 13.8 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 the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Its share of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Of every 100 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2025, 1 lived in Kananga, which is 1.5 million people.
How to read this: 100 squares, one for every 100th person in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; the coloured squares live in Kananga. 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
- 332 Jodhpur India1,515,910
- 333 Sacramento United States1,514,661
- 334 Austin United States1,513,032
- 335 Toluca Mexico1,505,035
- 336 Kananga1,504,370
- 337 Oakland United States1,503,319
- 338 Batam City Indonesia1,500,354
- 339 Stockholm Sweden1,500,093
- 340 Baotou China1,491,964
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2025
- 30 Kinshasa10,943,641
- 130 Kasaï-Oriental3,605,738
- 176 Lubumbashi2,832,853
- 258 Beni1,923,700
- 336 Kananga1,504,370
- 487 Tshikapa1,054,686
- 550 Bukavu948,948
- 574 Kisangani900,330
- 654 Goma809,601
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 Kananga 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 Kananga 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