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Samarqand, 
Uzbekistan
932,219 people lived in Samarqand in 2025. It is the 556th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 3rd largest in Uzbekistan.
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 Samarqand'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 Samarqand grew
For every 10 people in Samarqand in 1975, there were 26.5 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 1.3 million people in 2050. On the UN's projection it passes a million people between 2025 and 2030.
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
Samarqand through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Samarqand in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Uzbekistan · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Samarqand is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Uzbekistan in 2025, 76 in all, led by Tashkent, 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, Samarqand covered 231 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 69 km² of it. That is 74 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 9 by 9 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 2.1 times its size, and its people are 2.6 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 Uzbekistan
Its share of Uzbekistan
Of every 100 people in Uzbekistan in 2025, 3 lived in Samarqand, which is 932,219 people.
How to read this: shrink Uzbekistan to 100 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Samarqand; 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
- 552 Namangan947,465
- 553 Linfen China945,174
- 554 Homs Syria940,460
- 555 Bucaramanga Colombia939,291
- 556 Samarqand932,219
- 557 Banjarmasin Indonesia930,711
- 558 Ma'anshan China929,836
- 559 Teresina Brazil929,795
- 560 Chandanaish Bangladesh928,788
In Uzbekistan, 2025
- 117 Tashkent3,935,793
- 552 Namangan947,465
- 556 Samarqand932,219
- 658 Andijon803,518
- 671 Fergana791,877
- 979 Qarshi559,475
- 1505 Jizzakh376,607
- 1866 Qoqand308,393
- 1885 Nukus304,362
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 Samarqand 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 Samarqand 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