Topics
Karachi, 
Pakistan
21,422,590 people lived in Karachi in 2025. It is the 11th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the largest in Pakistan.
The UN measures every city in the world the same way, by where the buildings are rather than where the boundary runs, so this figure and Karachi's own can differ widely. What counts as a city here.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Karachi grew
For every 10 people in Karachi in 1975, there were 46.3 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 32.6 million people in 2050. It passed ten million people between 1995 and 2000.
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
Karachi through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Karachi in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Pakistan · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Pakistan and its 323 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people. Karachi 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, Karachi covered 870 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 214 km² of it. That is 10 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 3 by 3 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 2.1 times its size, and its people are 4.6 times as many.
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 Pakistan
Its share of Pakistan
Of every 100 people in Pakistan in 2025, 8 lived in Karachi, which is 21.4 million people.
How to read this: 100 squares stand for everyone in Pakistan, one square for every 100th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Karachi's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 7 Cairo Egypt25,566,102
- 8 Manila Philippines24,735,305
- 9 Kolkata India22,549,738
- 10 Seoul South Korea22,490,482
- 11 Karachi21,422,590
- 12 Mumbai India20,203,056
- 13 São Paulo Brazil18,949,790
- 14 Bangkok Thailand18,180,280
- 15 Mexico City Mexico17,734,212
In Pakistan, 2025
- 11 Karachi21,422,590
- 17 Lahore15,156,430
- 73 Faisalabad5,566,382
- 88 Islāmābād4,860,084
- 134 Peshawar3,554,423
- 159 Gujranwala3,121,271
- 165 Multan2,956,642
- 174 Hyderabad2,863,633
- 263 Sialkot1,907,978
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 Karachi 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 Karachi 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