Kilwa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Count 10 people in Kilwa in 2005 and the same count gives 39.8 in 2025.

On the UN's projection it will have 494,302 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: 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.

How to read this: Kilwa 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, Kilwa covered 14 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 2.6 km² of it. That is 10 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 3 by 3 metres. Since 2005, its built-up land has grown to 2 times its size, and its people are 4 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, 2 lived in Kilwa, which is 256,165 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 Kilwa's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.

In the world, 2025

1. 2274 Arraiján Panama257,136
2. 2275 Vanderbijlpark South Africa257,093
3. 2276 Keren Eritrea256,896
4. 2278 Ogu Nigeria256,345
5. 2279 Kilwa256,165
6. 2280 Abat Nigeria256,126
7. 2281 Centurion South Africa255,900
8. 2282 Wakayama Japan255,782
9. 2283 Punto Fijo Venezuela255,662

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2025

1. 1973 Kasumbalesa294,623
2. 1985 Kasaji292,523
3. 2079 Mweka279,312
4. 2164 Kabinda269,115
5. 2279 Kilwa256,165
6. 2353 Lisala248,434
7. 2355 Demba248,191
8. 2360 Kipushi247,546
9. 2404 Kamituga243,261

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.

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

The figures for Kilwa 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 Kilwa 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