Topics
Keren, 
Eritrea
256,896 people lived in Keren in 2025. It is the 2276th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 2nd largest in Eritrea.
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 Keren'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 Keren grew
For every 10 people in Keren in 1975, there were 8.4 in 2025: it shrank.
On the UN's projection it will have 358,711 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2020 and 2025.
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
Keren through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Keren in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Eritrea · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Keren is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Eritrea in 2025, 10 in all, led by Massawa, each drawn with an area that matches its people. Countries next door are outlines only.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Keren covered 16 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 3.1 km² of it. That is 12 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 have fallen by 16%.
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 Eritrea
Its share of Eritrea
Of every 100 people in Eritrea in 2025, 7 lived in Keren, which is 256,896 people.
How to read this: shrink Eritrea to 100 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Keren; 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
- 2270 Otukpo Nigeria257,334
- 2273 Jowhar Somalia257,210
- 2274 Arraiján Panama257,136
- 2275 Vanderbijlpark South Africa257,093
- 2276 Keren256,896
- 2278 Ogu Nigeria256,345
- 2279 Kilwa Democratic Republic of the Congo256,165
- 2280 Abat Nigeria256,126
- 2281 Centurion South Africa255,900
In Eritrea, 2025
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 Keren 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 Keren 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