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Leicester, 
United Kingdom
530,264 people lived in Leicester in 2025. It is the 1046th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Leicester 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 Leicester grew
For every 10 people in Leicester in 1975, there were 14.2 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 572,700 people in 2050.
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
Leicester through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Leicester in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
United Kingdom · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Leicester is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of the United Kingdom in 2025, 150 in all, led by London, each drawn with an area that matches its people. Countries next door are outlines only.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Leicester covered 127 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 33 km² of it. That is 61 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 8 by 8 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown by 52%, and its people have grown by 42%.
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 the United Kingdom
Its share of the United Kingdom
Of every 1,000 people in the United Kingdom in 2025, 8 lived in Leicester, which is 530,264 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares stand for everyone in the United Kingdom, one square for every 1,000th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Leicester's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1042 Genoa Italy532,509
- 1043 Zahedan Iran531,482
- 1044 Bozhou China531,429
- 1045 'Adan Yemen530,573
- 1046 Leicester530,264
- 1047 Hatay Türkiye530,262
- 1048 Homel Belarus529,882
- 1049 Feira de Santana Brazil529,185
- 1050 Beibei China527,806
In the United Kingdom, 2025
- 700 Newcastle upon Tyne760,969
- 835 Nottingham649,610
- 875 Bristol615,703
- 1001 Sheffield549,695
- 1046 Leicester530,264
- 1058 Edinburgh521,784
- 1137 Portsmouth488,385
- 1188 Brighton467,937
- 1262 Belfast441,925
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 Leicester 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 Leicester 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