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Riyadh — UN urban centre population

Modelled live estimate · UN 2025–2026 annual growth
6,916,417
Recorded base: 6,916,417 · 2025 annual estimate

Riyadh has a recorded base population of 6,916,417 for the UN urban centre definition (2025 annual estimate). UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025; the moving counter uses UN 2025–2026 annual growth, not new population observations.

At a glance

Population definitionUN urban centre
Recorded population6,916,417
Country share18.71% of 36,973,555 (World Bank 2025)
World share0.084% of 8,215,424,893 (World Bank 2025)
Country database rank#1 of 20 UN urban centre records
World database rank#40 of 5,233 UN urban centre records

Separate UN urban-centre definition

Riyadh UN urban centre: 6,916,417 people (2025), equal to the displayed UN urban centre figure of 6,916,417. Separate GeoNames settlement record: 4,205,961; the UN value is larger (different boundaries; GeoNames population date unavailable). UN WUP 2025 Degree of Urbanisation; not a municipal/province boundary. Association: name/country/coordinates matched; boundary relationship unverified. No containment claim is made.

Administrative units of Riyadh

2 administrative records listed; completeness not established. 2 of 2 population values available; population values and dates not independently verified.

Available-value subtotal: 103,788; not a reconciled total. Shares use the displayed UN urban centre denominator 6,916,417; mixed/unknown dates are not comparable. An em dash means missing, not zero.

UnitPopulationShareMembership
Ad Dir‘īyah61,6090.89%Not independently verified
‘Irqah42,1790.61%Not independently verified

Comparable database records

Same definition label: UN urban centre. Dates/boundaries may still differ; this is not a harmonised international city ranking. Ratios use 6,916,417 as denominator.

PlacePopulationvs Riyadh
Surat6,908,925−0.1%
Pune6,817,951−1.4%
Khartoum6,809,355−1.5%
Nanjing6,800,676−1.7%
Chongqing7,071,073+2.2%

About these numbers

Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025. Reference: 2025 annual estimate. Live method: exponential projection from modelling anchor 2025-01-01 using UN 2025–2026 annual growth (+1.56% per year). This anchor is a modelling convention, not an observed population date. Tiles, ranks and comparisons use the recorded base figure 6,916,417, not the ticking estimate. Country/world denominators are World Bank values and can differ in date and method from local/UN values. Ranks cover only records with the same definition label in this database, not all cities in the world.

Harmonised UN urban-centre ranking · Embed

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This page is a structured reference entry. Its sources, geographic definition and reference dates determine what the figures mean; it is not independent reporting about the causes of change. Read the accompanying explanation before comparing different places or vintages.

Urban and administrative population explained →

Interpretation reviewed 12 October 2026. Underlying reference years are stated on the page; this is not a fresh census or dataset refresh.