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Soyo, 
Angola
389,945 people lived in Soyo in 2025. It is the 1459th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 13th largest in Angola.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Soyo 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 Soyo grew
For every 10 people in Soyo in 2005, there were 63.7 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 945,420 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2015 and 2020. The UN first counts it as a city in 2005, 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
Soyo through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Soyo in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Angola · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Soyo is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Angola in 2025, 57 in all, led by Luanda, 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, Soyo covered 62 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 12 km² of it. That is 31 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 6 by 6 metres. Since 2005, its built-up land has grown to 4.1 times its size, and its people are 6.4 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 Angola
Its share of Angola
Of every 1,000 people in Angola in 2025, 10 lived in Soyo, which is 389,945 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares stand for everyone in Angola, one square for every 1,000th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Soyo's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1455 Cardiff United Kingdom390,692
- 1456 Takht Bhai Pakistan390,608
- 1457 Kassala Sudan390,525
- 1458 Wenling China390,282
- 1459 Soyo389,945
- 1460 Rangkasbitung Indonesia389,934
- 1461 Sikasso Mali389,804
- 1462 Hawrah Yemen389,641
- 1463 Tamkuhi Raj India389,533
In Angola, 2025
- 1077 Lobito516,153
- 1080 Saurimo514,728
- 1355 Moçâmedes415,361
- 1381 Uíge408,927
- 1459 Soyo389,945
- 1646 Ondjiva347,591
- 1714 M'banza Congo334,203
- 1917 Menongue299,802
- 1977 Matala294,087
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 Soyo are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 2005 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 Soyo 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