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Rostov-on-Don, 
Russia
1,065,880 people lived in Rostov-on-Don in 2025. It is the 479th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 7th largest in Russia.
This is the UN's built-up area, drawn from satellite pictures and census maps rather than from the city limits, and the two can be a long way apart. The rule behind it.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Rostov-on-Don grew
Rostov-on-Don had about as many people in 2025 as in 1975.
On the UN's projection it will have 1.1 million people in 2050.
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
Rostov-on-Don through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Rostov-on-Don in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Russia · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: every dot is one of the 254 cities in Russia in 2025, and a dot's area is how many people live there, the biggest being Moscow. The ringed dot in colour is Rostov-on-Don; 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, Rostov-on-Don covered 192 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 52 km² of it. That is 49 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 7 by 7 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown by 70%, and its people are about 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 Russia
Its share of Russia
Of every 1,000 people in Russia in 2025, 7 lived in Rostov-on-Don, which is 1.1 million people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares stand for everyone in Russia, one square for every 1,000th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Rostov-on-Don's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 475 Khulna Bangladesh1,074,134
- 476 Brisbane Australia1,071,628
- 477 Zhangjiagang China1,068,192
- 478 Sofia Bulgaria1,067,136
- 479 Rostov-on-Don1,065,880
- 480 Leeds United Kingdom1,065,607
- 481 Astana Kazakhstan1,065,387
- 482 João Pessoa Brazil1,064,481
- 483 Honghuagang China1,062,992
In Russia, 2025
- 381 Novosibirsk1,331,432
- 432 Nizhny Novgorod1,196,944
- 449 Yekaterinburg1,148,237
- 456 Kazan1,132,941
- 479 Rostov-on-Don1,065,880
- 530 Omsk975,485
- 543 Samara955,599
- 589 Ufa880,583
- 591 Voronezh879,892
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 Rostov-on-Don 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 Rostov-on-Don 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