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Massawa, 
Eritrea
354,657 people lived in Massawa in 2025. It is the 1609th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the largest in Eritrea.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Massawa 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 Massawa grew
For every 10 people in Massawa in 1980, there were 45.2 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 574,251 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2005 and 2010. The UN first counts it as a city in 1980, when it passed 50,000 people.
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
Massawa through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Massawa in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Eritrea · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Massawa is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Eritrea in 2025, 10 in all, 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, Massawa covered 34 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 2.3 km² of it. That is 6 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 3 by 3 metres. Since 2000, its built-up land has grown by 44%, and its people have grown by 84%.
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 Eritrea
Its share of Eritrea
Of every 100 people in Eritrea in 2025, 10 lived in Massawa, which is 354,657 people.
How to read this: 100 squares stand for everyone in Eritrea, one square for every 100th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Massawa's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1605 Fukuyama Japan355,352
- 1606 McAllen United States355,331
- 1607 Nandail Bangladesh354,872
- 1608 Balyana Egypt354,769
- 1609 Massawa354,657
- 1610 Anápolis Brazil354,576
- 1611 Yongzhou China354,335
- 1612 Luhansk Ukraine354,296
- 1613 Lili China354,151
In Eritrea, 2025
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 Massawa are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1980 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 Massawa 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