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Quelimane, 
Mozambique
438,554 people lived in Quelimane in 2025. It is the 1271st largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 5th largest in Mozambique.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Quelimane 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 Quelimane grew
For every 10 people in Quelimane in 1975, there were 68.1 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 693,964 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2010 and 2015.
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
Quelimane through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Quelimane in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Mozambique · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Quelimane is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Mozambique in 2025, 48 in all, led by Maputo, each drawn with an area that matches its people. Countries next door are outlines only.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Quelimane covered 42 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 10 km² of it. That is 23 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 5 by 5 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 3.5 times its size, and its people are 6.8 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 100 people in Mozambique
Its share of Mozambique
Of every 100 people in Mozambique in 2025, 1 lived in Quelimane, which is 438,554 people.
How to read this: 100 squares stand for everyone in Mozambique, one square for every 100th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Quelimane's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1267 Gemena Democratic Republic of the Congo440,327
- 1268 Maragha Egypt440,011
- 1269 Tallinn Estonia439,526
- 1270 Dindigul India438,809
- 1271 Quelimane438,554
- 1272 Buenaventura Colombia438,063
- 1273 Tây Ninh Vietnam437,816
- 1274 Ardabil Iran437,757
- 1275 Matsuyama Japan437,355
In Mozambique, 2025
- 154 Maputo3,166,328
- 584 Nampula885,780
- 892 Beira608,097
- 1228 Chimoio453,521
- 1271 Quelimane438,554
- 1334 Tete421,174
- 1975 Lichinga294,317
- 2122 Nacala273,732
- 2232 Pemba261,380
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 Quelimane 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 Quelimane 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