Mongbwalu, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Where Mongbwalu had 10 people in 1980, it had 37.9 in 2025.

On the UN's projection it will have 327,754 people in 2050. On the UN's projection it passes 250,000 people between 2030 and 2035. 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.

How to read this: the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its 223 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Kinshasa). Mongbwalu is ringed, in colour; the other cities are grey. Neighbouring countries are outlines.

In 2025, Mongbwalu covered 22 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 1.9 km² of it. That is 9 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 3 by 3 metres. Since 2015, its built-up land has grown by 73%, and its people have grown by 24%.

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 1,000 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2025, 2 lived in Mongbwalu, which is 205,051 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 Mongbwalu; the grey ones are everybody else, in other cities, in towns and out in the country.

In the world, 2025

1. 2890 Pampore India206,302
2. 2894 Suq al Shyukh Iraq206,015
3. 2897 Luena205,691
4. 2902 Havelian Cantonment Pakistan205,608
5. 2908 Mongbwalu205,051
6. 2915 Firozkoh Afghanistan204,753
7. 2920 Alaba Kulito Ethiopia204,316
8. 2921 Nanxun China204,276
9. 2922 Batkhela Pakistan204,156

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2025

1. 2765 Rutshuru214,158
2. 2797 Bandundu212,016
3. 2817 Kabondo-Dianda211,167
4. 2897 Luena205,691
5. 2908 Mongbwalu205,051
6. 2996 Musangala199,847
7. 3015 Kasangulu198,467
8. 3036 Dilolo197,075
9. 3057 Kisantu195,949

How to read this: names are in order of size, the leading number being each city's rank among all 12,138 in 2025; the bars share a scale within a list. A jump in the ranks means a city under 300,000 people, which is not given a page here.

Democratic Republic of the Congo · All the world's cities

The figures for Mongbwalu 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 Mongbwalu 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