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La Paz, 
Mexico
372,988 people lived in La Paz in 2025. It is the 1529th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 35th largest in Mexico.
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 La Paz grew
For every 10 people in La Paz in 1985, there were 64.3 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 682,923 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2015 and 2020. The UN first counts it as a city in 1985, 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.
People · your family's years · 1975 to 2050
La Paz through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in La Paz in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Mexico · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Mexico and its 186 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Mexico City). La Paz 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, La Paz covered 81 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 20 km² of it. That is 53 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 7 by 7 metres. Since 1985, its built-up land has grown to 10.3 times its size, and its people are 6.4 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 Mexico
Its share of Mexico
Of every 1,000 people in Mexico in 2025, 3 lived in La Paz, which is 372,988 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares stand for everyone in Mexico, one square for every 1,000th person. Count the coloured ones and you have La Paz's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1525 Wonsan North Korea373,596
- 1526 Valletta Malta373,474
- 1527 Kuantan Malaysia373,353
- 1528 Junagadh India373,265
- 1529 La Paz372,988
- 1530 Khagaria India372,707
- 1531 Abonnema Nigeria372,654
- 1532 Ivanovo Russia372,200
- 1533 Oita Japan372,190
In Mexico, 2025
- 1152 Villahermosa481,525
- 1219 Irapuato456,628
- 1379 Mazatlán409,143
- 1408 Tepic401,753
- 1529 La Paz372,988
- 1534 Celaya372,139
- 1733 Nuevo Laredo331,195
- 1760 Ciudad Obregón326,226
- 1769 Uruapan324,219
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 La Paz are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1985 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 La Paz 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