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Maroua, 
Cameroon
526,702 people lived in Maroua in 2025. It is the 1052nd largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 4th largest in Cameroon.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Maroua 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 Maroua grew
For every 10 people in Maroua in 1975, there were 37.4 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 752,049 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 1990 and 1995.
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
Maroua through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Maroua in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Cameroon · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Maroua is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Cameroon in 2025, 44 in all, led by Yaoundé, 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, Maroua covered 70 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 14 km² of it. That is 27 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 5 by 5 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 3.9 times its size, and its people are 3.7 times as many.
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 Cameroon
Its share of Cameroon
Of every 100 people in Cameroon in 2025, 2 lived in Maroua, which is 526,702 people.
How to read this: 100 squares, one for every 100th person in Cameroon; the coloured squares live in Maroua. 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
- 1048 Homel Belarus529,882
- 1049 Feira de Santana Brazil529,185
- 1050 Beibei China527,806
- 1051 Langfang China527,161
- 1052 Maroua526,702
- 1053 Rohtak India526,540
- 1054 Astrakhan Russia524,085
- 1055 Jember Indonesia522,844
- 1056 Masetjhaba View South Africa522,402
In Cameroon, 2025
- 79 Yaoundé5,106,087
- 109 Douala4,104,516
- 797 Garoua678,769
- 1052 Maroua526,702
- 1442 Bamenda394,155
- 1658 Ngaoundéré345,148
- 1745 Kumba329,340
- 1789 Bafoussam321,489
- 2389 Kousseri244,247
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 Maroua 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 Maroua 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