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Cities · Democratic Republic of the Congo
Mbandaka, 
Democratic Republic of the Congo
432,976 people lived in Mbandaka in 2025. It is the 1291st largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 19th largest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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 Mbandaka'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 Mbandaka grew
Count 10 people in Mbandaka in 1975 and the same count gives 27.3 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 543,924 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 1995 and 2000.
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
Mbandaka through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Mbandaka in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Democratic Republic of the Congo · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Mbandaka is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2025, 223 in all, led by Kinshasa, 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, Mbandaka covered 38 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 8.6 km² of it. That is 20 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 4 by 4 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown by 76%, and its people are 2.7 times as many.
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 the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Its share of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Of every 1,000 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2025, 4 lived in Mbandaka, which is 432,976 people.
How to read this: shrink the Democratic Republic of the Congo to 1,000 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Mbandaka; 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
- 1287 Seremban Malaysia434,530
- 1288 Bhilwara India434,406
- 1289 Daska Pakistan433,772
- 1290 Shizhong China433,213
- 1291 Mbandaka432,976
- 1292 Hamilton Canada432,788
- 1293 Huiminxiang China432,064
- 1294 Jhusi India431,880
- 1295 Takasaki [Maebashi] Japan431,687
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2025
- 1072 Manono517,304
- 1224 Butembo454,857
- 1244 Kolwezi446,709
- 1267 Gemena440,327
- 1291 Mbandaka432,976
- 1349 Uvira416,523
- 1375 Kongolo410,371
- 1471 Malemba-Nkulu386,790
- 1504 Matadi377,297
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 Mbandaka are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1975 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 Mbandaka 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