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Masaka, 
Uganda
159,564 people lived in Masaka in 2025. It is the 3796th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 8th largest in Uganda.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Masaka 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 Masaka grew
Count 10 people in Masaka in 1990 and the same count gives 28.9 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 358,936 people in 2050. On the UN's projection it passes 250,000 people between 2035 and 2040. The UN first counts it as a city in 1990, when it passed 50,000 people.
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
Masaka through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Masaka in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Uganda · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Uganda and its 27 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Kampala). Masaka is ringed, in colour; the other cities are grey. Neighbouring countries are outlines.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Masaka covered 38 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 6.9 km² of it. That is 43 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 7 by 7 metres. Since 1990, its built-up land has grown to 2.8 times its size, and its people are 2.9 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 Uganda
Its share of Uganda
Of every 1,000 people in Uganda in 2025, 3 lived in Masaka, which is 159,564 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares, one for every 1,000th person in Uganda; the coloured squares live in Masaka. 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
- 3726 Mihtarlam Afghanistan162,346
- 3740 Fenchuganj Bangladesh161,718
- 3741 N'dalatando Angola161,700
- 3768 Kahama Tanzania160,713
- 3796 Masaka159,564
- 3800 Ash Shajarah Yemen159,506
- 3815 San José del Cabo Mexico158,693
- 3817 Ambatolahy II Madagascar158,588
- 3823 Shufune Ethiopia158,225
In Uganda, 2025
- 2227 Jinja261,604
- 2536 Mbarara231,926
- 2599 Arua226,390
- 3035 Gulu197,090
- 3796 Masaka159,564
- 4221 Buligenyi144,692
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 Masaka are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1990 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 Masaka 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