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Kursk, 
Russia
291,098 people lived in Kursk in 2025. It is the 1997th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 52nd largest in Russia.
Like every city on this site, Kursk 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 Kursk grew
Count 10 people in Kursk in 1975 and the same count gives 8.5 in 2025 — the city lost people.
On the UN's projection it will have 278,014 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
Kursk through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Kursk in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Russia · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: every dot is one of the 254 cities in Russia in 2025, and a dot's area is how many people live there, the biggest being Moscow. The ringed dot in colour is Kursk; the grey dots are the rest. The outlines around them are neighbouring countries.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Kursk covered 71 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 16 km² of it. That is 55 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 7 by 7 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown by 79%, and its people have fallen by 15%.
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 Russia
Its share of Russia
Of every 1,000 people in Russia in 2025, 2 lived in Kursk, which is 291,098 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares stand for everyone in Russia, one square for every 1,000th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Kursk's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1992 Beledweyne Somalia291,630
- 1994 Cherepovets291,159
- 1995 Quetzaltenango Guatemala291,105
- 1996 Louisville United States291,103
- 1997 Kursk291,098
- 1998 Euclid United States290,669
- 1999 Nawada India290,657
- 2001 Baicheng China290,420
- 2002 Habra India290,311
In Russia, 2025
- 1927 Novokuznetsk298,733
- 1945 Smolensk297,177
- 1971 Oryol294,739
- 1994 Cherepovets291,159
- 1997 Kursk291,098
- 2091 Murmansk277,693
- 2168 Vologda268,759
- 2220 Ulan-Ude262,433
- 2289 Arkhangelsk254,797
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 Kursk 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 Kursk 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