Nyunzu, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Count 10 people in Nyunzu in 2005 and the same count gives 29.6 in 2025.

On the UN's projection it will have 322,278 people in 2050. On the UN's projection it passes 250,000 people between 2035 and 2040. The UN first counts it as a city in 2005, when it passed 50,000 people.

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.

How to read this: Nyunzu is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2025, 223 in all, led by Kinshasa, each drawn with an area that matches its people. Countries next door are outlines only.

In 2025, Nyunzu covered 12 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 2.4 km² of it. That is 12 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 4 by 4 metres. Since 2005, its built-up land has grown by 41%, and its people are 3 times as many.

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 Nyunzu, which is 192,205 people.

How to read this: 1,000 squares stand for everyone in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, one square for every 1,000th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Nyunzu's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.

In the world, 2025

1. 3079 Buraydah Saudi Arabia195,152
2. 3080 Fayzabad Afghanistan195,148
3. 3094 Kinzao193,973
4. 3121 Musoma Tanzania192,622
5. 3127 Nyunzu192,205
6. 3129 Qift Egypt191,964
7. 3134 Mocuba Mozambique191,635
8. 3150 Al `Udayn Yemen190,661
9. 3153 Toraghundi Afghanistan190,543

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2025

1. 3015 Kasangulu198,467
2. 3036 Dilolo197,075
3. 3057 Kisantu195,949
4. 3094 Kinzao193,973
5. 3127 Nyunzu192,205
6. 3166 Rubaya189,880
7. 3418 Lwambo176,648
8. 3459 Kitenge174,943
9. 3593 Mukubu168,033

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.

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

The figures for Nyunzu are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 2005 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 Nyunzu 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