Topics
Kunduz, 
Afghanistan
287,295 people lived in Kunduz in 2025. It is the 2028th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 7th largest in Afghanistan.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Kunduz 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 Kunduz grew
Count 10 people in Kunduz in 1975 and the same count gives 12 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 456,840 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2000 and 2005.
projected (after 2025) · how sure the UN is: high moderate low
How to read this: each column is one of the UN's five-yearly estimates, 1975 through 2050, and taller means more people. Where a column is hatched the year has not happened yet. The strip under the columns is the UN's own confidence in each figure, palest where it is least sure; where it is blank the city was not on the list at all.
People · your family's years · 1975 to 2050
Kunduz through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Kunduz in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Afghanistan · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Afghanistan and its 85 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Kabul). Kunduz 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, Kunduz covered 41 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 7.6 km² of it. That is 26 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 5 by 5 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 3.5 times its size, and its people have grown by 20%.
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 Afghanistan
Its share of Afghanistan
Of every 1,000 people in Afghanistan in 2025, 7 lived in Kunduz, which is 287,295 people.
How to read this: shrink Afghanistan to 1,000 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Kunduz; 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
- 2021 Bhiwani India288,360
- 2025 Timergara Pakistan287,866
- 2026 Manta Ecuador287,756
- 2027 Vinh Long Vietnam287,685
- 2028 Kunduz287,295
- 2029 Maseru Lesotho286,843
- 2030 Sucre Bolivia286,383
- 2032 Ashdod Israel286,310
- 2033 Jianpur India286,148
In Afghanistan, 2025
- 662 Kandahar799,015
- 834 Mazar i sharif651,287
- 927 Jalalabad587,508
- 2003 Taloqan290,028
- 2028 Kunduz287,295
- 2560 Maymana229,355
- 2574 Puli Khumri228,271
- 2592 Charikar227,054
- 2776 Shindand213,596
How to read this: the number before each name is its place among all 12,138 cities in the world in 2025; bars are people, on one scale per list. Only cities that reach 300,000 people have a page here, so a gap in the numbers is a smaller city.
Apparatus
Sources and method
The figures for Kunduz 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 Kunduz 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