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Murmansk, 
Russia
277,693 people lived in Murmansk in 2025. It is the 2091st largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 55th largest in Russia.
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 Murmansk'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 Murmansk grew
For every 10 people in Murmansk in 1975, there were 7.2 in 2025: it shrank.
On the UN's projection it will have 239,866 people in 2050.
projected (after 2025) · how sure the UN is: high moderate low
How to read this: read it left to right, 1975 to 2050, one column every five years, the height being people. Hatching marks the projected years. Below, a strip of the UN's confidence: strong colour where the census maps are recent and detailed, pale where they are not, blank where the place was not counted as a city.
People · your family's years · 1975 to 2050
Murmansk through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Murmansk in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Russia · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Russia and its 254 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Moscow). Murmansk 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, Murmansk covered 66 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 7.0 km² of it. That is 25 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 5 by 5 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown by 40%, and its people have fallen by 28%.
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 Russia
Its share of Russia
Of every 1,000 people in Russia in 2025, 2 lived in Murmansk, which is 277,693 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares stand for everyone in Russia, one square for every 1,000th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Murmansk's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 2081 Salalah Oman279,161
- 2082 Medininagar India278,795
- 2083 Kayes Mali278,727
- 2087 Saraf `Umrah Sudan278,467
- 2091 Murmansk277,693
- 2092 Dhaulpur India277,498
- 2093 Taunggyi Myanmar277,312
- 2095 Iwo Nigeria277,101
- 2096 Sarh Chad276,978
In Russia, 2025
- 1945 Smolensk297,177
- 1971 Oryol294,739
- 1994 Cherepovets291,159
- 1997 Kursk291,098
- 2091 Murmansk277,693
- 2168 Vologda268,759
- 2220 Ulan-Ude262,433
- 2289 Arkhangelsk254,797
- 2314 Vladimir251,498
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 Murmansk 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 Murmansk 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