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Semey, 
Kazakhstan
298,847 people lived in Semey in 2025. It is the 1924th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 7th largest in Kazakhstan.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Semey 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 Semey grew
For every 10 people in Semey in 1975, there were 12.6 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 303,586 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: read it left to right, 1975 to 2050, one column every five years, the height being people. Hatching marks the projected years. Below, a strip of the UN's confidence: strong colour where the census maps are recent and detailed, pale where they are not, blank where the place was not counted as a city.
People · your family's years · 1975 to 2050
Semey through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Semey in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Kazakhstan · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: every dot is one of the 34 cities in Kazakhstan in 2025, and a dot's area is how many people live there, the biggest being Almaty. The ringed dot in colour is Semey; the grey dots are the rest. The outlines around them are neighbouring countries.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Semey covered 91 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 25 km² of it. That is 83 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 9 by 9 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown by 90%, and its people have grown by 26%.
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 Kazakhstan
Its share of Kazakhstan
Of every 100 people in Kazakhstan in 2025, 1 lived in Semey, which is 298,847 people.
How to read this: 100 squares, one for every 100th person in Kazakhstan; the coloured squares live in Semey. 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
- 1920 Saransk Russia299,262
- 1921 Sorong Indonesia299,181
- 1922 Yongcheng China299,180
- 1923 Bugama Nigeria299,022
- 1924 Semey298,847
- 1925 Toulon France298,777
- 1926 Gold Coast Australia298,750
- 1927 Novokuznetsk Russia298,733
- 1928 Fungurume Democratic Republic of the Congo298,713
In Kazakhstan, 2025
- 481 Astana1,065,387
- 1351 Aktobe416,455
- 1831 Karaganda313,529
- 1850 Aktau310,607
- 1924 Semey298,847
- 2322 Kyzylorda250,557
- 3335 Taraz180,844
- 3531 Zhanaozen171,827
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 Semey 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 Semey 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