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Nacala, 
Mozambique
273,732 people lived in Nacala in 2025. It is the 2122nd largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 8th largest in Mozambique.
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 Nacala'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 Nacala grew
For every 10 people in Nacala in 1975, there were 31.1 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 413,340 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2015 and 2020.
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
Nacala through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Nacala in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Mozambique · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Mozambique and its 48 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Maputo). Nacala 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, Nacala covered 51 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 13 km² of it. That is 46 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 7 by 7 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 3.6 times its size, and its people are 3.1 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 Mozambique
Its share of Mozambique
Of every 1,000 people in Mozambique in 2025, 8 lived in Nacala, which is 273,732 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares stand for everyone in Mozambique, one square for every 1,000th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Nacala's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 2117 Xianning China274,146
- 2118 Abu Kabir Egypt274,073
- 2120 Vehari Pakistan273,823
- 2121 Magboro Nigeria273,818
- 2122 Nacala273,732
- 2123 Yibin China273,660
- 2124 Asaka Uzbekistan273,582
- 2128 Saskatoon Canada273,454
- 2130 Sanmenxia China272,970
In Mozambique, 2025
- 1228 Chimoio453,521
- 1271 Quelimane438,554
- 1334 Tete421,174
- 1975 Lichinga294,317
- 2122 Nacala273,732
- 2232 Pemba261,380
- 2857 Xai-Xai208,703
- 3134 Mocuba191,635
- 4324 Gurue141,061
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 Nacala 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 Nacala 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