Topics
Phuket, 
Thailand
389,376 people lived in Phuket in 2025. It is the 1465th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 4th largest in Thailand.
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 Phuket'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 Phuket grew
For every 10 people in Phuket in 1995, there were 64.6 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 363,046 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2005 and 2010. The UN first counts it as a city in 1995, when it passed 50,000 people.
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
Phuket through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Phuket in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Thailand · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Thailand and its 56 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Bangkok). Phuket 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, Phuket covered 103 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 16 km² of it. That is 42 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 6 by 6 metres. Since 1995, its built-up land has grown to 3.8 times its size, and its people are 6.5 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 Thailand
Its share of Thailand
Of every 1,000 people in Thailand in 2025, 5 lived in Phuket, which is 389,376 people.
How to read this: shrink Thailand to 1,000 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Phuket; the grey ones are everybody else, in other cities, in towns and out in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1461 Sikasso Mali389,804
- 1462 Hawrah Yemen389,641
- 1463 Tamkuhi Raj India389,533
- 1464 Iseyin Nigeria389,526
- 1465 Phuket389,376
- 1466 Birimbal al Quadima Egypt389,333
- 1467 Pishva Iran388,154
- 1468 Ulyanovsk Russia387,698
- 1469 Al Roda Egypt387,432
In Thailand, 2025
- 14 Bangkok18,180,280
- 864 Chiang Mai626,629
- 1387 Hat Yai407,059
- 1465 Phuket389,376
- 1500 Lop Buri378,160
- 1943 Chon Buri297,276
- 2527 Nakhon Pathom232,416
How to read this: names are in order of size, the leading number being each city's rank among all 12,138 in 2025; the bars share a scale within a list. A jump in the ranks means a city under 300,000 people, which is not given a page here.
Apparatus
Sources and method
The figures for Phuket are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1995 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 Phuket 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