Topics
Cities · Saudi Arabia · capital
Riyadh, 
Saudi Arabia
Ar-Riyāḑ
6,916,417 people lived in Riyadh in 2025. It is the 52nd largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the largest in Saudi Arabia, where it is the capital.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Riyadh governs, so it may be far from the number the city publishes about itself. How the UN measures a city.
In its own language: Ar-Riyāḑ.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Riyadh grew
For every 10 people in Riyadh in 1980, there were 550.5 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 9.2 million people in 2050. It passed five million people between 2010 and 2015. The UN first counts it as a city in 1980, 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
Riyadh through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Riyadh in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Saudi Arabia · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: every dot is one of the 44 cities in Saudi Arabia in 2025, and a dot's area is how many people live there. The ringed dot in colour is Riyadh; 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, Riyadh covered 1,091 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 370 km² of it. That is 53 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 7 by 7 metres. Since 1980, its built-up land has grown to 14.3 times its size, and its people are 55.1 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 Saudi Arabia
Its share of Saudi Arabia
Of every 100 people in Saudi Arabia in 2025, 20 lived in Riyadh, which is 6.9 million people.
How to read this: shrink Saudi Arabia to 100 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Riyadh; 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
- 48 Alexandria Egypt7,266,957
- 49 Nagoya Japan7,146,160
- 50 Johannesburg South Africa7,077,175
- 51 Chongqing China7,071,073
- 52 Riyadh6,916,417
- 53 Surat India6,908,925
- 54 Surabaya Indonesia6,843,503
- 55 Pune India6,817,951
- 56 Khartoum Sudan6,809,355
In Saudi Arabia, 2025
- 52 Riyadh6,916,417
- 100 Jeddah4,284,080
- 212 Dammam2,335,647
- 289 Mecca1,692,152
- 354 Medina1,432,287
- 738 Al Ahsa725,760
- 990 Tabuk553,389
- 1113 Khamis Mushayt497,246
- 1151 At Ta'if481,818
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 Riyadh are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1980 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 Riyadh 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