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Shaoyang, 
China
538,432 people lived in Shaoyang in 2025. It is the 1027th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 185th largest in China.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Shaoyang 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 Shaoyang grew
Where Shaoyang had 10 people in 1975, it had 27 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 483,129 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 1980 and 1985.
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
Shaoyang through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Shaoyang in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
China · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: China and its 2,082 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Shanghai). Shaoyang 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, Shaoyang covered 82 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 18 km² of it. That is 34 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 6 by 6 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 3.8 times its size, and its people are 2.7 times as many.
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 China
Its share of China
Fewer than 1 in every 1,000 people in China lived in Shaoyang in 2025 — about 1 in 2,632.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1023 Matamoros Mexico540,236
- 1024 Tirupati India539,275
- 1025 Mbeya Tanzania539,248
- 1026 Kupang Indonesia538,998
- 1027 Shaoyang538,432
- 1028 Fengrun538,206
- 1029 Xianyang537,601
- 1030 Buram Sudan537,169
- 1031 Sao Jose dos Campos Brazil536,073
In China, 2025
- 1007 Huangdao District545,983
- 1009 Wanzhou544,748
- 1012 Huazhou543,709
- 1020 Chengtougu541,451
- 1027 Shaoyang538,432
- 1028 Fengrun538,206
- 1029 Xianyang537,601
- 1035 Bengbu535,096
- 1044 Bozhou531,429
How to read this: names are in order of size, the leading number being each city's rank among all 12,138 in 2025; the bars share a scale within a list. A jump in the ranks means a city under 300,000 people, which is not given a page here.
Apparatus
Sources and method
The figures for Shaoyang 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 Shaoyang 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