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Sanandaj, 
Iran
325,425 people lived in Sanandaj in 2025. It is the 1764th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 28th largest in Iran.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Sanandaj governs, so it may be far from the number the city publishes about itself. How the UN measures a city.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Sanandaj grew
Where Sanandaj had 10 people in 1975, it had 26.5 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 336,886 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2000 and 2005.
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
Sanandaj through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Sanandaj in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Iran · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Iran and its 210 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Tehran). Sanandaj 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, Sanandaj covered 54 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 11 km² of it. That is 33 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 6 by 6 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 3 times its size, and its people are 2.7 times as many.
How to read this: the outer pale square stands for all the land the city covers, and the solid square inside it for the part with buildings, roads and the like on it. All three squares share a scale, so you can compare them by eye. A hatched one is a year the UN has projected.
Of every 100 people in Iran
Its share of Iran
Of every 1,000 people in Iran in 2025, 4 lived in Sanandaj, which is 325,425 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares stand for everyone in Iran, one square for every 1,000th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Sanandaj's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1760 Ciudad Obregón Mexico326,226
- 1761 Port-de-Paix Haiti326,041
- 1762 Rishikesh India325,933
- 1763 Khanakul India325,882
- 1764 Sanandaj325,425
- 1765 Jiaonan China325,383
- 1766 Canoas Brazil325,022
- 1767 Sumedang Indonesia324,936
- 1768 Kaiping China324,576
In Iran, 2025
- 1544 Qarchak369,782
- 1565 Arak366,442
- 1599 Qazvin355,865
- 1742 Narmashir329,526
- 1764 Sanandaj325,425
- 1771 Khorramabad324,110
- 1793 Famenin320,591
- 1822 Safadasht315,054
- 1849 Gorgan310,644
How to read this: the figure in front of a name is where that city stands among the 12,138 cities the UN counted in 2025, and each bar is its people, on one scale per list. Numbers are missing where a city has fewer than 300,000 people and so has no page of its own.
Apparatus
Sources and method
The figures for Sanandaj 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 Sanandaj 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