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Sha Tin, 
Hong Kong
674,476 people lived in Sha Tin in 2025. It is the 806th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 3rd largest in Hong Kong.
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 Sha Tin grew
Where Sha Tin had 10 people in 1975, it had 17.8 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 557,903 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
Sha Tin through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Sha Tin in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Hong Kong · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Hong Kong and its 6 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Hong Kong). Sha Tin 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, Sha Tin covered 41 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 6.2 km² of it. That is 9 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 3 by 3 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 3.1 times its size, and its people have grown by 78%.
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 Hong Kong
Its share of Hong Kong
Of every 100 people in Hong Kong in 2025, 9 lived in Sha Tin, which is 674,476 people.
How to read this: shrink Hong Kong to 100 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Sha Tin; 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
- 802 Mymensingh Bangladesh677,433
- 803 Shangqiu China676,590
- 804 Bazhong City China675,756
- 805 Barcelona Venezuela674,757
- 806 Sha Tin674,476
- 807 Calabar Nigeria673,427
- 808 Jiamusi China673,406
- 809 Likasi Democratic Republic of the Congo673,034
- 810 Kudus Indonesia671,940
In Hong Kong, 2025
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 Sha Tin 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 Sha Tin 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