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Kerman, 
Iran
517,216 people lived in Kerman in 2025. It is the 1073rd largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 16th largest in Iran.
Like every city on this site, Kerman is counted as a built-up area seen from above rather than as a city government's territory. Why that changes the number.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Kerman grew
For every 10 people in Kerman in 1975, there were 82.5 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 573,313 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 1990 and 1995.
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
Kerman through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Kerman in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Iran · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Kerman is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Iran in 2025, 210 in all, led by Tehran, 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, Kerman covered 118 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 34 km² of it. That is 66 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 8 by 8 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 5.1 times its size, and its people are 8.3 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 Iran
Its share of Iran
Of every 1,000 people in Iran in 2025, 6 lived in Kerman, which is 517,216 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares stand for everyone in Iran, one square for every 1,000th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Kerman's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1069 Dongsheng China518,080
- 1070 Satna India517,402
- 1071 Bukit Mertajam Malaysia517,326
- 1072 Manono Democratic Republic of the Congo517,304
- 1073 Kerman517,216
- 1074 Port Sudan Sudan517,023
- 1075 Concepción Chile516,741
- 1076 Minna Nigeria516,451
- 1077 Lobito Angola516,153
In Iran, 2025
- 644 Qom815,416
- 771 Urmia698,050
- 948 Rasht579,481
- 1043 Zahedan531,482
- 1073 Kerman517,216
- 1109 Hamedan498,337
- 1141 Yazd485,381
- 1274 Ardabil437,757
- 1359 Sareyn413,772
How to read this: the figure in front of a name is where that city stands among the 12,138 cities the UN counted in 2025, and each bar is its people, on one scale per list. Numbers are missing where a city has fewer than 300,000 people and so has no page of its own.
Apparatus
Sources and method
The figures for Kerman 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 Kerman 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