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Wanlaweyn, 
Somalia
314,824 people lived in Wanlaweyn in 2025. It is the 1823rd largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 7th largest in Somalia.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Wanlaweyn 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 Wanlaweyn grew
Count 10 people in Wanlaweyn in 1980 and the same count gives 56 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 659,571 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2015 and 2020. The UN first counts it as a city in 1980, when it passed 50,000 people.
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
Wanlaweyn through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Wanlaweyn in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Somalia · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Somalia and its 53 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Mogadishu). Wanlaweyn 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, Wanlaweyn covered 12 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 1.8 km² of it. That is 6 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 2 by 2 metres. Since 1980, its built-up land has grown by 80%, and its people are 5.6 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 Somalia
Its share of Somalia
Of every 100 people in Somalia in 2025, 2 lived in Wanlaweyn, which is 314,824 people.
How to read this: shrink Somalia to 100 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Wanlaweyn; 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
- 1819 Pathankot India315,476
- 1820 Miluo China315,273
- 1821 Tongzhou China315,167
- 1822 Safadasht Iran315,054
- 1823 Wanlaweyn314,824
- 1824 Nankang China314,564
- 1825 Ningde China314,107
- 1826 Tambov Russia314,026
- 1827 Hezhou China313,994
In Somalia, 2025
- 1207 Kismayo461,302
- 1310 Burao427,013
- 1339 Baidoa420,281
- 1571 Borama363,753
- 1823 Wanlaweyn314,824
- 1915 Merca299,906
- 1992 Beledweyne291,630
- 2273 Jowhar257,210
- 2528 Bosaso232,410
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 Wanlaweyn are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1980 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 Wanlaweyn 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