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Surabaya, 
Indonesia
6,843,503 people lived in Surabaya in 2025. It is the 54th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 3rd largest in Indonesia.
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 Surabaya'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 Surabaya grew
For every 10 people in Surabaya in 1975, there were 18.8 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 6.3 million people in 2050. It passed five million people between 1985 and 1990.
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
Surabaya through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Surabaya in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Indonesia · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Surabaya is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Indonesia in 2025, 389 in all, led by Jakarta, 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, Surabaya covered 1,303 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 253 km² of it. That is 37 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 6 by 6 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 2.1 times its size, and its people have grown by 88%.
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 Indonesia
Its share of Indonesia
Of every 100 people in Indonesia in 2025, 2 lived in Surabaya, which is 6.8 million people.
How to read this: shrink Indonesia to 100 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Surabaya; 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
- 50 Johannesburg South Africa7,077,175
- 51 Chongqing China7,071,073
- 52 Riyadh Saudi Arabia6,916,417
- 53 Surat India6,908,925
- 54 Surabaya6,843,503
- 55 Pune India6,817,951
- 56 Khartoum Sudan6,809,355
- 57 Nanjing China6,800,676
- 58 Santiago Chile6,726,045
In Indonesia, 2025
- 1 Jakarta41,913,860
- 40 Bandung8,909,104
- 54 Surabaya6,843,503
- 102 Medan4,245,895
- 177 Tasikmalaya2,827,255
- 179 Yogyakarta2,793,747
- 186 Semarang2,679,349
- 209 Denpasar2,352,734
- 223 Makassar2,255,088
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 Surabaya 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 Surabaya 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