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Kefole, 
Ethiopia
169,474 people lived in Kefole in 2025. It is the 3568th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 32nd largest in Ethiopia.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Kefole governs, so it may be far from the number the city publishes about itself. How the UN measures a city.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Kefole grew
Where Kefole had 10 people in 1985, it had 33 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 311,868 people in 2050. On the UN's projection it passes 250,000 people between 2035 and 2040. 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
Kefole through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Kefole in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Ethiopia · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: every dot is one of the 259 cities in Ethiopia in 2025, and a dot's area is how many people live there, the biggest being Addis Ababa. The ringed dot in colour is Kefole; 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, Kefole covered 12 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 1.4 km² of it. That is 8 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 3 by 3 metres. Since 2015, its built-up land has grown by 40%, and its people have grown by 31%.
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 Ethiopia
Its share of Ethiopia
Of every 1,000 people in Ethiopia in 2025, 1 lived in Kefole, which is 169,474 people.
How to read this: shrink Ethiopia to 1,000 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Kefole; 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
- 3538 Beanibazar Bangladesh171,417
- 3543 Amparihimahitsy Madagascar170,981
- 3547 Nampo North Korea170,683
- 3560 Shahrasti Bangladesh169,908
- 3568 Kefole169,474
- 3575 Aleta Wendo169,004
- 3588 Faya-Largeau Chad168,302
- 3593 Mukubu Democratic Republic of the Congo168,033
- 3607 Gao Mali167,417
In Ethiopia, 2025
- 2612 Naqamte225,503
- 2661 Hossana221,895
- 2737 Asella215,594
- 2920 Alaba Kulito204,316
- 3568 Kefole169,474
- 3575 Aleta Wendo169,004
- 3695 Durame163,896
- 3823 Shufune158,225
- 3864 Debre Birhan156,788
How to read this: the number before each name is its place among all 12,138 cities in the world in 2025; bars are people, on one scale per list. Only cities that reach 300,000 people have a page here, so a gap in the numbers is a smaller city.
Apparatus
Sources and method
The figures for Kefole 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 Kefole 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