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Maracaibo, 
Venezuela
2,030,633 people lived in Maracaibo in 2025. It is the 243rd largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 2nd largest in Venezuela.
The UN measures every city in the world the same way, by where the buildings are rather than where the boundary runs, so this figure and Maracaibo's own can differ widely. What counts as a city here.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Maracaibo grew
Where Maracaibo had 10 people in 1975, it had 24.4 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 2.2 million people in 2050. It passed a million people between 1980 and 1985.
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
Maracaibo through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Maracaibo in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Venezuela · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: every dot is one of the 69 cities in Venezuela in 2025, and a dot's area is how many people live there, the biggest being Caracas. The ringed dot in colour is Maracaibo; 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, Maracaibo covered 292 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 97 km² of it. That is 48 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 7 by 7 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown by 75%, and its people are 2.4 times as many.
How to read this: pale is the whole of the city's land; the stronger square inside it is what is actually built on. The three are drawn to the same scale, so a larger square really is more land, and hatching means the year is the UN's projection rather than a count.
Of every 100 people in Venezuela
Its share of Venezuela
Of every 100 people in Venezuela in 2025, 7 lived in Maracaibo, which is 2.0 million people.
How to read this: 100 squares stand for everyone in Venezuela, one square for every 100th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Maracaibo's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 239 Banha Egypt2,088,520
- 240 Rabat Morocco2,069,287
- 241 Basra Iraq2,033,553
- 242 Vienna Austria2,031,326
- 243 Maracaibo2,030,633
- 244 La Paz Bolivia2,024,413
- 245 Dhanbad India2,020,181
- 246 Mehsi India2,018,610
- 247 Nashik India1,996,763
In Venezuela, 2025
- 195 Caracas2,576,666
- 243 Maracaibo2,030,633
- 353 Valencia1,435,894
- 621 Maracay845,329
- 651 Barquisimeto812,384
- 805 Barcelona674,757
- 1033 Ciudad Guayana535,164
- 1231 Maturin452,835
- 1416 Guarenas399,477
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 Maracaibo 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 Maracaibo 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