Topics
Lal, 
Afghanistan
117,617 people lived in Lal in 2025. It is the 5229th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 31st largest in Afghanistan.
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 Lal grew
For every 10 people in Lal in 2005, there were 19.5 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 348,838 people in 2050. On the UN's projection it passes 250,000 people between 2040 and 2045. The UN first counts it as a city in 2005, when it passed 50,000 people.
projected (after 2025) · how sure the UN is: high moderate low
How to read this: read it left to right, 1975 to 2050, one column every five years, the height being people. Hatching marks the projected years. Below, a strip of the UN's confidence: strong colour where the census maps are recent and detailed, pale where they are not, blank where the place was not counted as a city.
People · your family's years · 1975 to 2050
Lal through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Lal 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). Lal 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, Lal covered 4 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 0.1 km² of it.
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 Afghanistan
Its share of Afghanistan
Of every 1,000 people in Afghanistan in 2025, 3 lived in Lal, which is 117,617 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares, one for every 1,000th person in Afghanistan; the coloured squares live in Lal. The grey rest live in other cities, in towns or in the countryside.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 5114 Chucko Ethiopia120,065
- 5136 Vihiga Kenya119,644
- 5137 Paardekraal Ext 2 South Africa119,589
- 5167 Kafr Ibrash Egypt118,945
- 5229 Lal117,617
- 5258 Golbahar116,780
- 5371 Imehejek South Sudan114,546
- 5387 Jerash Jordan114,256
- 5474 Irba Ethiopia112,673
In Afghanistan, 2025
- 3080 Fayzabad195,148
- 3153 Toraghundi190,543
- 3417 Guzarah176,657
- 3726 Mihtarlam162,346
- 5229 Lal117,617
- 5258 Golbahar116,780
- 5488 Qeysar112,398
- 5649 Baghlan109,385
- 5670 Ghazni109,080
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 Lal are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 2005 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 Lal 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