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Zhaotong, 
China
302,089 people lived in Zhaotong in 2025. It is the 1897th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 350th largest in China.
This is the UN's built-up area, drawn from satellite pictures and census maps rather than from the city limits, and the two can be a long way apart. The rule behind it.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Zhaotong grew
For every 10 people in Zhaotong in 1975, there were 28.5 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 291,892 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2000 and 2005.
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
Zhaotong through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Zhaotong in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
China · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: every dot is one of the 2,082 cities in China in 2025, and a dot's area is how many people live there, the biggest being Shanghai. The ringed dot in colour is Zhaotong; 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, Zhaotong covered 60 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 11 km² of it. That is 36 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 6 by 6 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 5.5 times its size, and its people are 2.8 times as many.
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 China
Its share of China
Fewer than 1 in every 1,000 people in China lived in Zhaotong in 2025 — about 1 in 4,762.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1893 Busto Arsizio Italy302,759
- 1894 Al-Santa Egypt302,572
- 1895 Hafar Al-Batin Saudi Arabia302,534
- 1896 Sivakasi India302,256
- 1897 Zhaotong302,089
- 1898 Tlemcen Algeria301,980
- 1899 Orai India301,946
- 1900 Owo Nigeria301,931
- 1901 Jigani India301,763
In China, 2025
- 1872 Jinshan307,246
- 1879 Cenxi306,146
- 1884 Gaoming304,429
- 1889 Gao'an304,111
- 1897 Zhaotong302,089
- 1902 Changxing301,206
- 1922 Yongcheng299,180
- 1931 Baochi298,433
- 1935 Guigang298,077
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 Zhaotong 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 Zhaotong 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