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Rabat, 
Morocco
2,069,287 people lived in Rabat in 2025. It is the 240th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 2nd largest in Morocco, where it is the capital.
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 Rabat'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 Rabat grew
For every 10 people in Rabat in 1975, there were 34.3 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 2.4 million people in 2050. It passed a million people between 1985 and 1990.
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
Rabat through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Rabat in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Morocco · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Rabat is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Morocco in 2025, 73 in all, led by Casablanca, 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, Rabat covered 202 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 30 km² of it. That is 14 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 4 by 4 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 2.8 times its size, and its people are 3.4 times as many.
How to read this: pale is the whole of the city's land; the stronger square inside it is what is actually built on. The three are drawn to the same scale, so a larger square really is more land, and hatching means the year is the UN's projection rather than a count.
Of every 100 people in Morocco
Its share of Morocco
Of every 100 people in Morocco in 2025, 5 lived in Rabat, which is 2.1 million people.
How to read this: 100 squares stand for everyone in Morocco, one square for every 100th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Rabat's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 236 Madurai India2,138,746
- 237 Palembang Indonesia2,132,576
- 238 Harare Zimbabwe2,117,195
- 239 Banha Egypt2,088,520
- 240 Rabat2,069,287
- 241 Basra Iraq2,033,553
- 242 Vienna Austria2,031,326
- 243 Maracaibo Venezuela2,030,633
- 244 La Paz Bolivia2,024,413
In Morocco, 2025
- 94 Casablanca4,457,471
- 240 Rabat2,069,287
- 373 Fez1,359,989
- 423 Tangier1,217,976
- 502 Marrakesh1,021,530
- 602 Agadir869,990
- 743 Meknes722,852
- 940 Oujda583,116
- 967 Kenitra566,802
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 Rabat 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 Rabat 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