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Zanzibar City, 
Tanzania
966,642 people lived in Zanzibar City in 2025. It is the 538th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 2nd largest in Tanzania.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Zanzibar City 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 Zanzibar City grew
For every 10 people in Zanzibar City in 1975, there were 106.7 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 2.1 million people in 2050. On the UN's projection it passes a million people between 2025 and 2030.
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
Zanzibar City through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Zanzibar City in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Tanzania · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Tanzania and its 45 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Dar es Salaam). Zanzibar City 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, Zanzibar City covered 123 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 30 km² of it. That is 31 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 6 by 6 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 3.7 times its size, and its people are 10.7 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 Tanzania
Its share of Tanzania
Of every 100 people in Tanzania in 2025, 1 lived in Zanzibar City, which is 966,642 people.
How to read this: shrink Tanzania to 100 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Zanzibar City; 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
- 534 Baoding China970,162
- 535 Duhok Iraq969,701
- 536 Xiangyang China969,011
- 537 Fushan China968,359
- 538 Zanzibar City966,642
- 539 Dharwad India965,667
- 540 Lilongwe Malawi961,399
- 541 San Miguel de Tucumán Argentina959,565
- 542 Konya Türkiye959,484
In Tanzania, 2025
- 42 Dar es Salaam7,795,114
- 538 Zanzibar City966,642
- 544 Mwanza954,104
- 665 Arusha795,744
- 1025 Mbeya539,248
- 1205 Morogoro461,634
- 1677 Kigoma340,483
- 1861 Moshi309,202
- 1956 Tanga296,202
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 Zanzibar City 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 Zanzibar City 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