Topics
Saransk, 
Russia
299,262 people lived in Saransk in 2025. It is the 1920th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 47th largest in Russia.
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 Saransk'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 Saransk grew
Count 10 people in Saransk in 1975 and the same count gives 13.4 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 238,928 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 1975 and 1980.
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
Saransk through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Saransk in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Russia · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Saransk is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Russia in 2025, 254 in all, led by Moscow, 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, Saransk covered 72 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 13 km² of it. That is 44 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 7 by 7 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 2.8 times its size, and its people have grown by 34%.
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 Russia
Its share of Russia
Of every 1,000 people in Russia in 2025, 2 lived in Saransk, which is 299,262 people.
How to read this: shrink Russia to 1,000 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Saransk; 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
- 1916 Caruaru Brazil299,805
- 1917 Menongue Angola299,802
- 1918 Anantnag India299,385
- 1919 Bukittinggi Indonesia299,353
- 1920 Saransk299,262
- 1921 Sorong Indonesia299,181
- 1922 Yongcheng China299,180
- 1923 Bugama Nigeria299,022
- 1924 Semey Kazakhstan298,847
In Russia, 2025
- 1787 Timofeevka321,680
- 1810 Magnitogorsk317,107
- 1826 Tambov314,026
- 1892 Rajon Swerdlowski302,890
- 1920 Saransk299,262
- 1927 Novokuznetsk298,733
- 1945 Smolensk297,177
- 1971 Oryol294,739
- 1994 Cherepovets291,159
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 Saransk 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 Saransk 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