Topics
Matta, 
Pakistan
165,993 people lived in Matta in 2025. It is the 3652nd largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 112th largest in Pakistan.
Like every city on this site, Matta is counted as a built-up area seen from above rather than as a city government's territory. Why that changes the number.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Matta grew
Count 10 people in Matta in 1990 and the same count gives 28.2 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 670,249 people in 2050. On the UN's projection it passes 250,000 people between 2025 and 2030. 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
Matta through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Matta in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Pakistan · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Pakistan and its 323 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Karachi). Matta 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, Matta covered 40 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 4.0 km² of it. That is 24 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 5 by 5 metres. Since 2010, its built-up land has grown to 2.7 times its size, and its people have grown by 31%.
How to read this: each pale square is the city's whole area, the strong square inside it the part that is built on; one scale for all three, so a bigger square is more land. Hatched is the UN's projection.
Of every 100 people in Pakistan
Its share of Pakistan
Of every 1,000 people in Pakistan in 2025, 1 lived in Matta, which is 165,993 people.
How to read this: shrink Pakistan to 1,000 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Matta; the grey ones are everybody else, in other cities, in towns and out in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 3615 Berbera Somalia167,119
- 3622 Battagram166,956
- 3628 Unguwar Arewa Nigeria166,817
- 3631 Zalmat Hubaysh Yemen166,653
- 3652 Matta165,993
- 3659 Sandoa Democratic Republic of the Congo165,522
- 3667 Akhaura Bangladesh165,093
- 3670 Geita Tanzania165,000
- 3680 Iksan-si South Korea164,566
In Pakistan, 2025
- 3400 Oghi177,887
- 3434 Layyah176,125
- 3513 Gujar Khan172,682
- 3622 Battagram166,956
- 3652 Matta165,993
- 3721 Samarbagh162,603
- 3917 Thatta154,717
- 4118 Baffa147,524
- 4131 Garhi Habibullah147,308
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 Matta 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 Matta 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