Topics
Vientiane, 
Laos
Viangchan
216,305 people lived in Vientiane in 2025. It is the 2730th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the largest in Laos, where it is the capital.
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 Vientiane's own can differ widely. What counts as a city here.
In its own language: Viangchan.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Vientiane grew
Where Vientiane had 10 people in 1975, it had 14.5 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 236,525 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 1995 and 2000.
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
Vientiane through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Vientiane in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Laos · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Laos and its 3 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people. Vientiane is ringed, in colour; the other cities are grey. Neighbouring countries are outlines.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Vientiane covered 84 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 22 km² of it. That is 102 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 10 by 10 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 3.3 times its size, and its people have grown by 45%.
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 Laos
Its share of Laos
Of every 100 people in Laos in 2025, 3 lived in Vientiane, which is 216,305 people.
How to read this: 100 squares stand for everyone in Laos, one square for every 100th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Vientiane's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 2713 Okitipupa Nigeria218,097
- 2715 Botshabelo-N South Africa218,046
- 2717 Dinjway Egypt217,913
- 2728 Bumba Democratic Republic of the Congo216,429
- 2730 Vientiane216,305
- 2734 Kahemba Democratic Republic of the Congo215,825
- 2736 Kabongo Democratic Republic of the Congo215,612
- 2737 Asella Ethiopia215,594
- 2743 Elelim Indonesia215,216
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 Vientiane 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 Vientiane 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