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Salinas [Santa Elena], 
Ecuador
260,161 people lived in Salinas [Santa Elena] in 2025. It is the 2243rd largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 8th largest in Ecuador.
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 Salinas [Santa Elena]'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 Salinas [Santa Elena] grew
Count 10 people in Salinas [Santa Elena] in 1985 and the same count gives 46 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 319,026 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2020 and 2025. The UN first counts it as a city in 1985, when it passed 50,000 people.
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
Salinas [Santa Elena] through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Salinas [Santa Elena] in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Ecuador · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Salinas [Santa Elena] is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Ecuador in 2025, 32 in all, led by Guayaquil, 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, Salinas [Santa Elena] covered 61 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 16 km² of it. That is 63 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 8 by 8 metres. Since 1985, its built-up land has grown to 3.7 times its size, and its people are 4.6 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 Ecuador
Its share of Ecuador
Of every 100 people in Ecuador in 2025, 1 lived in Salinas [Santa Elena], which is 260,161 people.
How to read this: 100 squares, one for every 100th person in Ecuador; the coloured squares live in Salinas [Santa Elena]. 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
- 2233 Agbara Nigeria261,298
- 2234 Areraj India261,142
- 2235 Sidi Bel Abbes Algeria261,103
- 2238 The Woodlands United States260,732
- 2243 Salinas [Santa Elena]260,161
- 2244 Long Thành Vietnam260,047
- 2245 Khalilabad India259,783
- 2246 Deir Ez Zor Syria259,771
- 2247 Hazel Dell United States259,716
In Ecuador, 2025
- 1149 Cuenca482,272
- 1594 Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas356,829
- 2026 Manta287,756
- 2110 Ambato274,672
- 2243 Salinas [Santa Elena]260,161
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 Salinas [Santa Elena] are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1985 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 Salinas [Santa Elena] 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