Kasumbalesa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

For every 10 people in Kasumbalesa in 2005, there were 42.4 in 2025.

On the UN's projection it will have 669,502 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2020 and 2025. The UN first counts it as a city in 2005, 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.

How to read this: Kasumbalesa is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2025, 223 in all, led by Kinshasa, each drawn with an area that matches its people. Countries next door are outlines only.

In 2025, Kasumbalesa covered 37 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 11 km² of it. That is 37 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 6 by 6 metres. Since 2005, its built-up land has grown to 3.3 times its size, and its people are 4.2 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 1,000 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2025, 3 lived in Kasumbalesa, which is 294,623 people.

How to read this: 1,000 squares stand for everyone in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, one square for every 1,000th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Kasumbalesa's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.

In the world, 2025

1. 1969 Franceville Gabon294,863
2. 1970 Khanpur Pakistan294,821
3. 1971 Oryol Russia294,739
4. 1972 Simferopol Ukraine294,735
5. 1973 Kasumbalesa294,623
6. 1974 Misrata Libya294,401
7. 1975 Lichinga Mozambique294,317
8. 1976 Chingola Zambia294,193
9. 1977 Matala Angola294,087

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2025

1. 1784 Mulongo321,881
2. 1791 Ilebo321,392
3. 1859 Kindu309,727
4. 1928 Fungurume298,713
5. 1973 Kasumbalesa294,623
6. 1985 Kasaji292,523
7. 2079 Mweka279,312
8. 2164 Kabinda269,115
9. 2279 Kilwa256,165

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.

Democratic Republic of the Congo · All the world's cities

The figures for Kasumbalesa are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 2005 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 Kasumbalesa 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