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Kismayo, 
Somalia
461,302 people lived in Kismayo in 2025. It is the 1207th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 3rd largest in Somalia.
This is the UN's built-up area, drawn from satellite pictures and census maps rather than from the city limits, and the two can be a long way apart. The rule behind it.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Kismayo grew
Count 10 people in Kismayo in 1975 and the same count gives 87.5 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 678,284 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2005 and 2010.
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
Kismayo through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Kismayo in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Somalia · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Somalia and its 53 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Mogadishu). Kismayo is ringed, in colour; the other cities are grey. Neighbouring countries are outlines.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Kismayo covered 36 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 5.3 km² of it. That is 11 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 3 by 3 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 2.8 times its size, and its people are 8.8 times as many.
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 Somalia
Its share of Somalia
Of every 100 people in Somalia in 2025, 2 lived in Kismayo, which is 461,302 people.
How to read this: 100 squares stand for everyone in Somalia, one square for every 100th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Kismayo's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1203 Yuhu China462,605
- 1204 Yanji China461,800
- 1205 Morogoro Tanzania461,634
- 1206 Zhanghua City Taiwan461,552
- 1207 Kismayo461,302
- 1208 Purnia India461,043
- 1209 Nagercoil India460,826
- 1210 Kota Bharu Malaysia460,445
- 1211 Elenga Bangladesh459,645
In Somalia, 2025
- 95 Mogadishu4,399,430
- 310 Hargeisa1,593,542
- 1207 Kismayo461,302
- 1310 Burao427,013
- 1339 Baidoa420,281
- 1571 Borama363,753
- 1823 Wanlaweyn314,824
- 1915 Merca299,906
- 1992 Beledweyne291,630
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 Kismayo 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 Kismayo 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