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Marseille, 
France
891,463 people lived in Marseille in 2025. It is the 581st largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 4th largest in France.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Marseille 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 Marseille grew
For every 10 people in Marseille in 1975, there were 12.7 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 981,662 people in 2050.
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
Marseille through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Marseille in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
France · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Marseille is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of France in 2025, 71 in all, led by Paris, 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, Marseille covered 169 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 47 km² of it. That is 52 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 7 by 7 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown by 32%, and its people have grown by 27%.
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 France
Its share of France
Of every 100 people in France in 2025, 1 lived in Marseille, which is 891,463 people.
How to read this: 100 squares, one for every 100th person in France; the coloured squares live in Marseille. 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
- 577 Ad Diwaniyah Iraq894,478
- 578 Lille893,282
- 579 Erode India892,758
- 580 Qiqihar China892,744
- 581 Marseille891,463
- 582 Sitamarhi India889,696
- 583 The Hague Netherlands886,444
- 584 Nampula Mozambique885,780
- 585 Kayseri Türkiye882,238
In France, 2025
- 36 Paris9,381,921
- 429 Lyon1,202,985
- 578 Lille893,282
- 581 Marseille891,463
- 839 Toulouse642,224
- 856 Bordeaux631,551
- 1227 Nantes453,523
- 1345 Nice418,294
- 1424 Strasbourg398,175
How to read this: the figure in front of a name is where that city stands among the 12,138 cities the UN counted in 2025, and each bar is its people, on one scale per list. Numbers are missing where a city has fewer than 300,000 people and so has no page of its own.
Apparatus
Sources and method
The figures for Marseille 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 Marseille 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