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Cities · Democratic Republic of the Congo
Luena, 
Democratic Republic of the Congo
205,691 people lived in Luena in 2025. It is the 2897th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 49th largest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Luena 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 Luena grew
Where Luena had 10 people in 2000, it had 40.8 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 381,501 people in 2050. On the UN's projection it passes 250,000 people between 2030 and 2035. The UN first counts it as a city in 2000, 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
Luena through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Luena in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Democratic Republic of the Congo · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: every dot is one of the 223 cities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2025, and a dot's area is how many people live there, the biggest being Kinshasa. The ringed dot in colour is Luena; 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, Luena covered 11 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 2.2 km² of it. That is 11 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 3 by 3 metres. Since 2000, its built-up land has grown by 57%, and its people are 4.1 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 the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Its share of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Of every 1,000 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2025, 2 lived in Luena, which is 205,691 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares, one for every 1,000th person in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; the coloured squares live in Luena. 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
- 2875 Beni Mazar Egypt207,194
- 2888 Nablus Palestine206,378
- 2890 Pampore India206,302
- 2894 Suq al Shyukh Iraq206,015
- 2897 Luena205,691
- 2902 Havelian Cantonment Pakistan205,608
- 2908 Mongbwalu205,051
- 2915 Firozkoh Afghanistan204,753
- 2920 Alaba Kulito Ethiopia204,316
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2025
- 2736 Kabongo215,612
- 2765 Rutshuru214,158
- 2797 Bandundu212,016
- 2817 Kabondo-Dianda211,167
- 2897 Luena205,691
- 2908 Mongbwalu205,051
- 2996 Musangala199,847
- 3015 Kasangulu198,467
- 3036 Dilolo197,075
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 Luena are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 2000 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 Luena 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