Topics
Mosul, 
Iraq
1,665,214 people lived in Mosul in 2025. It is the 293rd largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 3rd largest in Iraq.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Mosul 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 Mosul grew
Where Mosul had 10 people in 1975, it had 45.3 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 2.5 million people in 2050. It passed a million people between 2005 and 2010.
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
Mosul through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Mosul in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Iraq · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Iraq and its 88 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Baghdad). Mosul 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, Mosul covered 166 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 40 km² of it. That is 24 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 5 by 5 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 4.2 times its size, and its people are 4.5 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 Iraq
Its share of Iraq
Of every 100 people in Iraq in 2025, 4 lived in Mosul, which is 1.7 million people.
How to read this: 100 squares stand for everyone in Iraq, one square for every 100th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Mosul's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 289 Mecca Saudi Arabia1,692,152
- 290 San Antonio United States1,686,163
- 291 Nantong China1,684,417
- 292 Sao Goncalo Brazil1,679,246
- 293 Mosul1,665,214
- 294 Pointe-Noire Republic of the Congo1,662,537
- 295 Visakhapatnam India1,641,957
- 296 Boston United States1,639,797
- 297 Ahwaz Iran1,639,321
In Iraq, 2025
- 63 Baghdad6,390,735
- 241 Basra2,033,553
- 293 Mosul1,665,214
- 312 Erbil1,582,829
- 403 Al-Najaf1,273,450
- 444 Kirkuk1,153,160
- 486 Al Hillah1,055,267
- 501 Karbala1,022,893
- 535 Duhok969,701
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 Mosul 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 Mosul 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