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Oshawa, 
Canada
311,294 people lived in Oshawa in 2025. It is the 1842nd largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 14th largest in Canada.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Oshawa 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 Oshawa grew
For every 10 people in Oshawa in 1990, there were 29.3 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 353,227 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2010 and 2015. The UN first counts it as a city in 1990, 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.
People · your family's years · 1975 to 2050
Oshawa through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Oshawa in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Canada · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: every dot is one of the 56 cities in Canada in 2025, and a dot's area is how many people live there, the biggest being Toronto. The ringed dot in colour is Oshawa; the grey dots are the rest. The outlines around them are neighbouring countries.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Oshawa covered 118 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 30 km² of it. That is 96 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 10 by 10 metres. Since 1990, its built-up land has grown to 2.7 times its size, and its people are 2.9 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 Canada
Its share of Canada
Of every 1,000 people in Canada in 2025, 8 lived in Oshawa, which is 311,294 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares stand for everyone in Canada, one square for every 1,000th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Oshawa's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1838 Antsiramandroso Madagascar312,434
- 1839 Vizianagaram India312,315
- 1840 Holguín Cuba312,173
- 1841 Simri Bakhtiarpur India311,434
- 1842 Oshawa311,294
- 1843 Arlington United States311,130
- 1844 Rouen France311,071
- 1845 Modesto United States310,818
- 1846 Pachuca Mexico310,805
In Canada, 2025
- 1292 Hamilton432,788
- 1579 London362,006
- 1629 Longueuil351,819
- 1644 Kitchener347,723
- 1842 Oshawa311,294
- 2105 Erin Woods275,476
- 2128 Saskatoon273,454
- 2331 Victoria250,244
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 Oshawa are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1990 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 Oshawa 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