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Kankan, 
Guinea
296,159 people lived in Kankan in 2025. It is the 1957th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 3rd largest in Guinea.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Kankan 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 Kankan grew
For every 10 people in Kankan in 1980, there were 55.5 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 723,389 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2020 and 2025. The UN first counts it as a city in 1980, when it passed 50,000 people.
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
Kankan through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Kankan in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Guinea · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: every dot is one of the 24 cities in Guinea in 2025, and a dot's area is how many people live there, the biggest being Conacry. The ringed dot in colour is Kankan; 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, Kankan covered 32 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 6.5 km² of it. That is 22 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 5 by 5 metres. Since 1980, its built-up land has grown to 3.6 times its size, and its people are 5.6 times as many.
How to read this: pale is the whole of the city's land; the stronger square inside it is what is actually built on. The three are drawn to the same scale, so a larger square really is more land, and hatching means the year is the UN's projection rather than a count.
Of every 100 people in Guinea
Its share of Guinea
Of every 100 people in Guinea in 2025, 2 lived in Kankan, which is 296,159 people.
How to read this: 100 squares, one for every 100th person in Guinea; the coloured squares live in Kankan. 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
- 1952 Najibabad India296,669
- 1954 Birnin Kebbi Nigeria296,331
- 1955 Gumi-si South Korea296,323
- 1956 Tanga Tanzania296,202
- 1957 Kankan296,159
- 1958 Renqiu China295,917
- 1959 Wonosobo Indonesia295,758
- 1960 Colima Mexico295,757
- 1962 Ségou Mali295,589
In Guinea, 2025
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 Kankan are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1980 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 Kankan 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