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Malmo, 
Sweden
318,242 people lived in Malmo in 2025. It is the 1806th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 3rd largest in Sweden.
Like every city on this site, Malmo 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 Malmo grew
Count 10 people in Malmo in 1975 and the same count gives 14.4 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 342,930 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2005 and 2010.
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
Malmo through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Malmo in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Sweden · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Malmo is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Sweden in 2025, 17 in all, led by Stockholm, 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, Malmo covered 73 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 18 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 65%, and its people have grown by 44%.
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 Sweden
Its share of Sweden
Of every 100 people in Sweden in 2025, 3 lived in Malmo, which is 318,242 people.
How to read this: 100 squares stand for everyone in Sweden, one square for every 100th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Malmo's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1802 Armenia Colombia319,234
- 1803 Zhangqiu China319,153
- 1804 Sosnowiec Poland318,955
- 1805 Qili China318,490
- 1806 Malmo318,242
- 1807 Dumai Indonesia317,280
- 1808 Al-Qadarif Sudan317,258
- 1809 Nazirhat Bangladesh317,240
- 1810 Magnitogorsk Russia317,107
In Sweden, 2025
- 339 Stockholm1,500,093
- 973 Gothenburg562,945
- 1806 Malmo318,242
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 Malmo 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 Malmo 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