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Karaganda, 
Kazakhstan
313,529 people lived in Karaganda in 2025. It is the 1831st largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 5th largest in Kazakhstan.
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 Karaganda'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 Karaganda grew
For every 10 people in Karaganda in 1975, there were 9.1 in 2025: it shrank.
On the UN's projection it will have 327,323 people in 2050.
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
Karaganda through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Karaganda in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Kazakhstan · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: every dot is one of the 34 cities in Kazakhstan in 2025, and a dot's area is how many people live there, the biggest being Almaty. The ringed dot in colour is Karaganda; 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, Karaganda covered 64 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 16 km² of it. That is 50 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 7 by 7 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown by 80%, and its people have fallen by 9%.
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 Kazakhstan
Its share of Kazakhstan
Of every 100 people in Kazakhstan in 2025, 2 lived in Karaganda, which is 313,529 people.
How to read this: 100 squares stand for everyone in Kazakhstan, one square for every 100th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Karaganda's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1827 Hezhou China313,994
- 1828 Kodarma India313,949
- 1829 Raoping China313,705
- 1830 Gandhidham India313,691
- 1831 Karaganda313,529
- 1832 Samalut Egypt313,324
- 1833 Girza Egypt312,801
- 1834 Uberaba Brazil312,745
- 1835 Lufeng China312,588
In Kazakhstan, 2025
- 208 Almaty2,367,611
- 437 Shymkent1,184,337
- 481 Astana1,065,387
- 1351 Aktobe416,455
- 1831 Karaganda313,529
- 1850 Aktau310,607
- 1924 Semey298,847
- 2322 Kyzylorda250,557
- 3335 Taraz180,844
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 Karaganda 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 Karaganda 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