Topics
Shorsh, 
Iraq
245,565 people lived in Shorsh in 2025. It is the 2376th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 22nd largest in Iraq.
The UN measures every city in the world the same way, by where the buildings are rather than where the boundary runs, so this figure and Shorsh's own can differ widely. What counts as a city here.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Shorsh grew
For every 10 people in Shorsh in 1990, there were 49 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 384,722 people in 2050. On the UN's projection it passes 250,000 people between 2025 and 2030. The UN first counts it as a city in 1990, when it passed 50,000 people.
projected (after 2025) · how sure the UN is: high moderate low
How to read this: each column is one of the UN's five-yearly estimates, 1975 through 2050, and taller means more people. Where a column is hatched the year has not happened yet. The strip under the columns is the UN's own confidence in each figure, palest where it is least sure; where it is blank the city was not on the list at all.
People · your family's years · 1975 to 2050
Shorsh through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Shorsh in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Iraq · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: every dot is one of the 88 cities in Iraq in 2025, and a dot's area is how many people live there, the biggest being Baghdad. The ringed dot in colour is Shorsh; 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, Shorsh covered 24 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 5.4 km² of it. That is 22 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 5 by 5 metres. Since 1995, its built-up land has grown to 3.6 times its size, and its people are 2.5 times as many.
How to read this: pale is the whole of the city's land; the stronger square inside it is what is actually built on. The three are drawn to the same scale, so a larger square really is more land, and hatching means the year is the UN's projection rather than a count.
Of every 100 people in Iraq
Its share of Iraq
Of every 1,000 people in Iraq in 2025, 5 lived in Shorsh, which is 245,565 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares stand for everyone in Iraq, one square for every 1,000th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Shorsh's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 2368 Phan Thiết Vietnam246,665
- 2371 Obuasi Ghana245,920
- 2373 Saidpur Bangladesh245,655
- 2374 Yamoussoukro Côte d’Ivoire245,612
- 2376 Shorsh245,565
- 2377 Dhupguri India245,107
- 2378 Termez Uzbekistan245,080
- 2380 Chernihiv Ukraine244,882
- 2381 Khairpur Pakistan244,838
In Iraq, 2025
- 1240 Ramadi449,183
- 1443 As Samawah393,865
- 1586 Fallujah359,695
- 1870 Al-Shatrah307,652
- 2376 Shorsh245,565
- 2413 Gayara242,690
- 2464 Tal Afar237,454
- 2674 Az Zubayr220,737
- 2894 Suq al Shyukh206,015
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 Shorsh are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1990 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 Shorsh 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