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Kingston, 
Jamaica
598,012 people lived in Kingston in 2025. It is the 912th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the largest in Jamaica, where it is the capital.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Kingston 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 Kingston grew
Count 10 people in Kingston in 1975 and the same count gives 11.2 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 533,595 people in 2050.
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
Kingston through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Kingston in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Jamaica · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Kingston is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Jamaica in 2025, 6 in all, 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, Kingston covered 118 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 31 km² of it. That is 52 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 7 by 7 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown by 21%, and its people have grown by 12%.
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 Jamaica
Its share of Jamaica
Of every 100 people in Jamaica in 2025, 21 lived in Kingston, which is 598,012 people.
How to read this: 100 squares stand for everyone in Jamaica, one square for every 100th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Kingston's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 908 Maoming China599,504
- 909 Chifeng China599,299
- 910 Londrina Brazil598,731
- 911 Ado Ekiti Nigeria598,230
- 912 Kingston598,012
- 913 Jiujiang China597,681
- 914 Huaibei China596,613
- 915 Huiyang China596,451
- 916 Ogale Nigeria595,099
In Jamaica, 2025
- 912 Kingston598,012
- 1645 Portmore347,722
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 Kingston 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 Kingston 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