Topics
Cities · Democratic Republic of the Congo
Tshikapa, 
Democratic Republic of the Congo
1,054,686 people lived in Tshikapa in 2025. It is the 487th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 6th largest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Tshikapa 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 Tshikapa grew
Where Tshikapa had 10 people in 1975, it had 58.2 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 1.7 million people in 2050. It passed a million people between 2020 and 2025.
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
Tshikapa through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Tshikapa in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Democratic Republic of the Congo · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: every dot is one of the 223 cities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2025, and a dot's area is how many people live there, the biggest being Kinshasa. The ringed dot in colour is Tshikapa; 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, Tshikapa covered 55 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 11 km² of it. That is 10 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 3 by 3 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown by 77%, and its people are 5.8 times 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 the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Its share of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Of every 1,000 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2025, 9 lived in Tshikapa, which is 1.1 million people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares stand for everyone in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, one square for every 1,000th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Tshikapa's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 483 Honghuagang China1,062,992
- 484 Naha Japan1,060,017
- 485 Bangui Central African Republic1,056,949
- 486 Al Hillah Iraq1,055,267
- 487 Tshikapa1,054,686
- 488 Kutubdia Bangladesh1,053,339
- 489 Tuen Mun Hong Kong1,053,083
- 490 Kottayam India1,043,314
- 491 Sarvestan Iran1,039,168
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2025
- 130 Kasaï-Oriental3,605,738
- 176 Lubumbashi2,832,853
- 258 Beni1,923,700
- 336 Kananga1,504,370
- 487 Tshikapa1,054,686
- 550 Bukavu948,948
- 574 Kisangani900,330
- 654 Goma809,601
- 704 Kalemie758,379
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 Tshikapa 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 Tshikapa 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