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Cities · North Macedonia · capital
Skopje, 
North Macedonia
352,624 people lived in Skopje in 2025. It is the 1624th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the largest in North Macedonia, where it is the capital.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Skopje 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 Skopje grew
Skopje had about as many people in 2025 as in 1975.
On the UN's projection it will have 327,062 people in 2050.
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
Skopje through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Skopje in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
North Macedonia · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Skopje is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of North Macedonia in 2025, 4 in all, 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, Skopje covered 90 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 21 km² of it. That is 60 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 8 by 8 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown by 52%, and its people are about 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 North Macedonia
Its share of North Macedonia
Of every 100 people in North Macedonia in 2025, 19 lived in Skopje, which is 352,624 people.
How to read this: 100 squares stand for everyone in North Macedonia, one square for every 100th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Skopje's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1620 Nam Định Vietnam353,044
- 1621 Siem Reap Cambodia352,948
- 1622 Utsunomiya Japan352,816
- 1623 Khurja India352,785
- 1624 Skopje352,624
- 1625 Madhubani India352,336
- 1626 Temuco Chile352,200
- 1627 Praia Grande Brazil352,067
- 1628 Karimnagar India351,832
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 Skopje 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 Skopje 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