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Misrata, 
Libya
294,401 people lived in Misrata in 2025. It is the 1974th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 3rd largest in Libya.
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 Misrata'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 Misrata grew
For every 10 people in Misrata in 1980, there were 40.2 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 357,125 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2015 and 2020. 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
Misrata through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Misrata in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Libya · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Libya and its 14 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Tripoli). Misrata 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, Misrata covered 147 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 44 km² of it. That is 148 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 12 by 12 metres. Since 1980, its built-up land has grown to 7 times its size, and its people are 4 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 Libya
Its share of Libya
Of every 100 people in Libya in 2025, 4 lived in Misrata, which is 294,401 people.
How to read this: shrink Libya to 100 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Misrata; 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
- 1970 Khanpur Pakistan294,821
- 1971 Oryol Russia294,739
- 1972 Simferopol Ukraine294,735
- 1973 Kasumbalesa Democratic Republic of the Congo294,623
- 1974 Misrata294,401
- 1975 Lichinga Mozambique294,317
- 1976 Chingola Zambia294,193
- 1977 Matala Angola294,087
- 1978 Chhindwara India293,950
In Libya, 2025
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 Misrata 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 Misrata 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