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Suq al Shyukh, 
Iraq
206,015 people lived in Suq al Shyukh in 2025. It is the 2894th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 26th 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 Suq al Shyukh'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 Suq al Shyukh grew
Where Suq al Shyukh had 10 people in 2000, it had 32.4 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 349,283 people in 2050. On the UN's projection it passes 250,000 people between 2030 and 2035. The UN first counts it as a city in 2000, 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
Suq al Shyukh through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Suq al Shyukh in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Iraq · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Suq al Shyukh is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Iraq in 2025, 88 in all, led by Baghdad, 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, Suq al Shyukh covered 19 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 4.1 km² of it. That is 20 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 4 by 4 metres. Since 2000, its built-up land has grown to 3.7 times its size, and its people are 3.2 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, 4 lived in Suq al Shyukh, which is 206,015 people.
How to read this: shrink Iraq to 1,000 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Suq al Shyukh; the grey ones are everybody else, in other cities, in towns and out in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 2869 Mellit Sudan207,693
- 2875 Beni Mazar Egypt207,194
- 2888 Nablus Palestine206,378
- 2890 Pampore India206,302
- 2894 Suq al Shyukh206,015
- 2897 Luena Democratic Republic of the Congo205,691
- 2902 Havelian Cantonment Pakistan205,608
- 2908 Mongbwalu Democratic Republic of the Congo205,051
- 2915 Firozkoh Afghanistan204,753
In Iraq, 2025
- 2376 Shorsh245,565
- 2413 Gayara242,690
- 2464 Tal Afar237,454
- 2674 Az Zubayr220,737
- 2894 Suq al Shyukh206,015
- 3169 Abu Gharaq189,692
- 3194 Al Qurna188,604
- 4351 Al Kifl140,343
- 4719 Domeez129,444
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 Suq al Shyukh are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 2000 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 Suq al Shyukh 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