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Shiraz, 
Iran
914,496 people lived in Shiraz in 2025. It is the 566th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 9th largest in Iran.
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 Shiraz grew
Count 10 people in Shiraz in 1975 and the same count gives 17.1 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 982,908 people in 2050. It passed a million 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
Shiraz through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Shiraz in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Iran · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Shiraz is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Iran in 2025, 210 in all, led by Tehran, 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, Shiraz covered 189 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 53 km² of it. That is 58 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 8 by 8 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 2.5 times its size, and its people have grown by 71%.
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 Iran
Its share of Iran
Of every 1,000 people in Iran in 2025, 10 lived in Shiraz, which is 914,496 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares, one for every 1,000th person in Iran; the coloured squares live in Shiraz. 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
- 562 Libreville Gabon921,216
- 563 Jerusalem Israel920,478
- 564 Xuchang China916,553
- 565 Ikorodu Nigeria916,166
- 566 Shiraz914,496
- 567 Blantyre Malawi909,289
- 568 Weifang China908,584
- 569 Sulaymaniyah Iraq907,815
- 570 Dusseldorf Germany907,386
In Iran, 2025
- 297 Ahwaz1,639,321
- 393 Tabriz1,309,004
- 491 Sarvestan1,039,168
- 523 Kharameh983,056
- 566 Shiraz914,496
- 610 Kavar857,280
- 629 Kermanshah837,230
- 644 Qom815,416
- 771 Urmia698,050
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 Shiraz 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 Shiraz 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