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Kanyamazane, 
South Africa
292,211 people lived in Kanyamazane in 2025. It is the 1986th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 14th largest in South Africa.
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 Kanyamazane grew
Count 10 people in Kanyamazane in 1985 and the same count gives 46.9 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 391,436 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2010 and 2015. The UN first counts it as a city in 1985, when it passed 50,000 people.
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
Kanyamazane through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Kanyamazane in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
South Africa · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Kanyamazane is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of South Africa in 2025, 95 in all, led by Johannesburg, 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, Kanyamazane covered 109 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 29 km² of it. That is 100 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 10 by 10 metres. Since 1985, its built-up land has grown to 3.8 times its size, and its people are 4.7 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 South Africa
Its share of South Africa
Of every 1,000 people in South Africa in 2025, 5 lived in Kanyamazane, which is 292,211 people.
How to read this: shrink South Africa to 1,000 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Kanyamazane; the grey ones are everybody else, in other cities, in towns and out in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1982 San-Pédro Côte d’Ivoire293,698
- 1983 Lausanne Switzerland293,509
- 1984 Hazro Pakistan293,506
- 1985 Kasaji Democratic Republic of the Congo292,523
- 1986 Kanyamazane292,211
- 1987 Matara Sri Lanka292,019
- 1988 Bhadrak India291,997
- 1990 Bayannur China291,787
- 1991 Pangkalpinang Indonesia291,683
In South Africa, 2025
- 1115 Bloemfontein496,295
- 1233 Polokwane451,786
- 1264 Chief Albert Luthuli Park441,204
- 1668 Edendale342,930
- 1986 Kanyamazane292,211
- 2148 Kimberley271,078
- 2249 Paarl259,665
- 2275 Vanderbijlpark257,093
- 2281 Centurion255,900
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 Kanyamazane are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1985 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 Kanyamazane 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