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Mbale City, 
Uganda
380,565 people lived in Mbale City in 2025. It is the 1495th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 2nd largest in Uganda.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Mbale City 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 Mbale City grew
For every 10 people in Mbale City in 1990, there were 70.2 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 1.3 million people in 2050. On the UN's projection it passes a million people between 2040 and 2045. 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
Mbale City through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Mbale City in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Uganda · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Mbale City is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Uganda in 2025, 27 in all, led by Kampala, 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, Mbale City covered 108 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 12 km² of it. That is 31 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 6 by 6 metres. Since 1990, its built-up land has grown to 4.7 times its size, and its people are 7 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, 7 lived in Mbale City, which is 380,565 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares, one for every 1,000th person in Uganda; the coloured squares live in Mbale City. 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
- 1491 Kas Sudan381,286
- 1492 Bandar Abbas Iran381,008
- 1493 Mahilioŭ Belarus380,951
- 1494 Dongyang China380,793
- 1495 Mbale City380,565
- 1496 KUNDULUN Nigeria380,118
- 1497 Al-Asafra Egypt379,559
- 1498 Cumana Venezuela379,333
- 1499 Laiwu China379,135
In Uganda, 2025
- 85 Kampala4,880,943
- 1495 Mbale City380,565
- 1657 Bukalasi345,288
- 2227 Jinja261,604
- 2536 Mbarara231,926
- 2599 Arua226,390
- 3035 Gulu197,090
- 3796 Masaka159,564
- 4221 Buligenyi144,692
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 Mbale City 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 Mbale City 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