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Ulsan, 
South Korea
881,858 people lived in Ulsan in 2025. It is the 588th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 6th largest in South Korea.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Ulsan 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 Ulsan grew
Count 10 people in Ulsan in 1975 and the same count gives 26.6 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 723,568 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
Ulsan through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Ulsan in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
South Korea · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: every dot is one of the 49 cities in South Korea in 2025, and a dot's area is how many people live there, the biggest being Seoul. The ringed dot in colour is Ulsan; 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, Ulsan covered 200 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 50 km² of it. That is 57 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 8 by 8 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 4.8 times its size, and its people are 2.7 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 South Korea
Its share of South Korea
Of every 100 people in South Korea in 2025, 2 lived in Ulsan, which is 881,858 people.
How to read this: 100 squares stand for everyone in South Korea, one square for every 100th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Ulsan's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 584 Nampula Mozambique885,780
- 585 Kayseri Türkiye882,238
- 586 Bikaner India882,222
- 587 Huadu China882,089
- 588 Ulsan881,858
- 589 Ufa Russia880,583
- 590 Querétaro Mexico880,361
- 591 Voronezh Russia879,892
- 592 Adelaide Australia879,249
In South Korea, 2025
- 146 Busan3,263,221
- 213 Daegu2,334,446
- 331 Daejeon1,517,299
- 351 Gwangju1,441,495
- 588 Ulsan881,858
- 780 Cheongju-si690,333
- 814 Changwon665,772
- 848 Jeonju637,082
- 1304 Cheonan-si428,378
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 Ulsan 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 Ulsan 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