Topics
São Paulo, 
Brazil
18,949,790 people lived in São Paulo in 2025. It is the 13th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the largest in Brazil.
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 São Paulo grew
Where São Paulo had 10 people in 1975, it had 18 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 18.2 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
São Paulo through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in São Paulo in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Brazil · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: São Paulo is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Brazil in 2025, 356 in all, 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, São Paulo covered 2,044 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 678 km² of it. That is 36 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 6 by 6 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown by 50%, and its people have grown by 80%.
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 Brazil
Its share of Brazil
Of every 100 people in Brazil in 2025, 9 lived in São Paulo, which is 18.9 million people.
How to read this: 100 squares, one for every 100th person in Brazil; the coloured squares live in São Paulo. 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
- 9 Kolkata India22,549,738
- 10 Seoul South Korea22,490,482
- 11 Karachi Pakistan21,422,590
- 12 Mumbai India20,203,056
- 13 São Paulo18,949,790
- 14 Bangkok Thailand18,180,280
- 15 Mexico City Mexico17,734,212
- 16 Beijing China17,013,303
- 17 Lahore Pakistan15,156,430
In Brazil, 2025
- 13 São Paulo18,949,790
- 35 Rio de Janeiro9,500,336
- 105 Belo Horizonte4,162,814
- 124 Recife3,691,196
- 149 Fortaleza3,244,260
- 158 Salvador3,135,157
- 200 Curitiba2,475,352
- 214 Goiânia2,320,596
- 217 Manaus2,277,352
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 São Paulo 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 São Paulo 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