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Shahrisabz, 
Uzbekistan
293,849 people lived in Shahrisabz in 2025. It is the 1980th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 10th largest in Uzbekistan.
Like every city on this site, Shahrisabz is counted as a built-up area seen from above rather than as a city government's territory. Why that changes the number.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Shahrisabz grew
For every 10 people in Shahrisabz in 1980, there were 36.3 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 528,621 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2015 and 2020. The UN first counts it as a city in 1980, when it passed 50,000 people.
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
Shahrisabz through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Shahrisabz in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Uzbekistan · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Shahrisabz is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Uzbekistan in 2025, 76 in all, led by Tashkent, 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, Shahrisabz covered 90 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 22 km² of it. That is 76 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 9 by 9 metres. Since 1980, its built-up land has grown to 3.7 times its size, and its people are 3.6 times as many.
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 Uzbekistan
Its share of Uzbekistan
Of every 1,000 people in Uzbekistan in 2025, 8 lived in Shahrisabz, which is 293,849 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares stand for everyone in Uzbekistan, one square for every 1,000th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Shahrisabz's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1976 Chingola Zambia294,193
- 1977 Matala Angola294,087
- 1978 Chhindwara India293,950
- 1979 Anlu China293,857
- 1980 Shahrisabz293,849
- 1981 Bohicon Benin293,833
- 1982 San-Pédro Côte d’Ivoire293,698
- 1983 Lausanne Switzerland293,509
- 1984 Hazro Pakistan293,506
In Uzbekistan, 2025
- 979 Qarshi559,475
- 1505 Jizzakh376,607
- 1866 Qoqand308,393
- 1885 Nukus304,362
- 1980 Shahrisabz293,849
- 2124 Asaka273,582
- 2222 Urgench262,377
- 2327 Bukhara250,377
- 2378 Termez245,080
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 Shahrisabz are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1980 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 Shahrisabz 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