Topics
Cities · Democratic Republic of the Congo
Rutshuru, 
Democratic Republic of the Congo
214,158 people lived in Rutshuru in 2025. It is the 2765th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 46th largest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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 Rutshuru'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 Rutshuru grew
For every 10 people in Rutshuru in 1975, there were 40 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 354,795 people in 2050. On the UN's projection it passes 250,000 people between 2030 and 2035.
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
Rutshuru through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Rutshuru in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Democratic Republic of the Congo · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its 223 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Kinshasa). Rutshuru 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, Rutshuru covered 23 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 4.2 km² of it. That is 20 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 4 by 4 metres. Since 1985, its built-up land has grown to 3.8 times its size, and its people are 3.3 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 the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Its share of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Of every 1,000 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2025, 2 lived in Rutshuru, which is 214,158 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares, one for every 1,000th person in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; the coloured squares live in Rutshuru. The grey rest live in other cities, in towns or in the countryside.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 2743 Elelim Indonesia215,216
- 2746 Manokwari Indonesia214,949
- 2752 Baraut India214,706
- 2762 Arifwala Pakistan214,409
- 2765 Rutshuru214,158
- 2767 Beersheba Israel214,104
- 2769 Juma Uzbekistan214,035
- 2774 Mulia Indonesia213,704
- 2775 Ica Peru213,644
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2025
- 2554 Luputa230,128
- 2728 Bumba216,429
- 2734 Kahemba215,825
- 2736 Kabongo215,612
- 2765 Rutshuru214,158
- 2797 Bandundu212,016
- 2817 Kabondo-Dianda211,167
- 2897 Luena205,691
- 2908 Mongbwalu205,051
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 Rutshuru 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 Rutshuru 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