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Kaohsiung, 
Taiwan
2,187,455 people lived in Kaohsiung in 2025. It is the 231st largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 3rd largest in Taiwan.
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 Kaohsiung grew
Count 10 people in Kaohsiung in 1975 and the same count gives 14.5 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 1.7 million people in 2050.
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
Kaohsiung through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Kaohsiung in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Taiwan · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Taiwan and its 21 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Taipei). Kaohsiung 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, Kaohsiung covered 374 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 94 km² of it. That is 43 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 7 by 7 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown by 69%, and its people have grown by 45%.
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 Taiwan
Its share of Taiwan
Of every 100 people in Taiwan in 2025, 9 lived in Kaohsiung, which is 2.2 million people.
How to read this: 100 squares stand for everyone in Taiwan, one square for every 100th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Kaohsiung's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 227 Meerut India2,209,886
- 228 Barranquilla Colombia2,208,021
- 229 Macau - Zhuhai Macao2,203,065
- 230 Doha Qatar2,193,708
- 231 Kaohsiung2,187,455
- 232 Las Vegas United States2,183,655
- 233 Belém Brazil2,180,454
- 234 Cixi China2,177,489
- 235 San José Costa Rica2,171,213
In Taiwan, 2025
- 39 Taipei9,136,792
- 220 Taichung2,268,685
- 231 Kaohsiung2,187,455
- 526 Tainan979,987
- 773 Hsinchu695,677
- 1206 Zhanghua City461,552
- 1280 Chiayi436,393
- 1855 Yuanlin City310,380
- 3451 Pingtung City175,377
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 Kaohsiung 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 Kaohsiung 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