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Wakefield, 
United Kingdom
306,684 people lived in Wakefield in 2025. It is the 1877th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 23rd largest in the United Kingdom.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Wakefield 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 Wakefield grew
For every 10 people in Wakefield in 1975, there were 11.8 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 322,171 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 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
Wakefield through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Wakefield in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
United Kingdom · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Wakefield is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of the United Kingdom in 2025, 150 in all, led by London, 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, Wakefield covered 108 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 24 km² of it. That is 79 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 9 by 9 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown by 65%, and its people have grown by 18%.
How to read this: the outer pale square stands for all the land the city covers, and the solid square inside it for the part with buildings, roads and the like on it. All three squares share a scale, so you can compare them by eye. A hatched one is a year the UN has projected.
Of every 100 people in the United Kingdom
Its share of the United Kingdom
Of every 1,000 people in the United Kingdom in 2025, 4 lived in Wakefield, which is 306,684 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares stand for everyone in the United Kingdom, one square for every 1,000th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Wakefield's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1873 Damoh India307,218
- 1874 Ughelli Nigeria307,005
- 1875 Juliaca Peru306,990
- 1876 Dessie Ethiopia306,979
- 1877 Wakefield306,684
- 1878 Bankura India306,650
- 1879 Cenxi China306,146
- 1880 Golapganj Bangladesh306,017
- 1881 Mek'elē Ethiopia305,037
In the United Kingdom, 2025
- 1637 Middlesbrough349,436
- 1647 Southampton347,446
- 1728 Stoke-on-Trent332,542
- 1783 Hull322,100
- 1877 Wakefield306,684
- 2075 Southend-on-Sea280,158
- 2112 Reading274,632
- 2256 Gillingham258,422
How to read this: the figure in front of a name is where that city stands among the 12,138 cities the UN counted in 2025, and each bar is its people, on one scale per list. Numbers are missing where a city has fewer than 300,000 people and so has no page of its own.
Apparatus
Sources and method
The figures for Wakefield 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 Wakefield 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