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Matala, 
Angola
294,087 people lived in Matala in 2025. It is the 1977th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 17th largest in Angola.
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 Matala'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 Matala grew
For every 10 people in Matala in 2000, there were 49.5 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 597,919 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2020 and 2025. The UN first counts it as a city in 2000, 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
Matala through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Matala in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Angola · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Angola and its 57 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Luanda). Matala 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, Matala covered 39 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 7.9 km² of it. That is 27 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 5 by 5 metres. Since 2000, its built-up land has grown by 58%, and its people are 5 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 Angola
Its share of Angola
Of every 1,000 people in Angola in 2025, 8 lived in Matala, which is 294,087 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares stand for everyone in Angola, one square for every 1,000th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Matala's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1973 Kasumbalesa Democratic Republic of the Congo294,623
- 1974 Misrata Libya294,401
- 1975 Lichinga Mozambique294,317
- 1976 Chingola Zambia294,193
- 1977 Matala294,087
- 1978 Chhindwara India293,950
- 1979 Anlu China293,857
- 1980 Shahrisabz Uzbekistan293,849
- 1981 Bohicon Benin293,833
In Angola, 2025
- 1459 Soyo389,945
- 1646 Ondjiva347,591
- 1714 M'banza Congo334,203
- 1917 Menongue299,802
- 1977 Matala294,087
- 2252 Dundo259,341
- 3224 Cafunfo187,253
- 3525 Luau172,177
- 3696 Cazombo163,870
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 Matala are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 2000 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 Matala 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