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Rio de Janeiro — UN urban centre

9,500,336

Rio de Janeiro: 9,500,336 people. Reference: 2025 annual estimate · World rank #35 of 12,138 source urban centres. Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (CC BY 3.0 IGO). Source identifier: 7935; territory: Brazil (BRA). UN source workbook.

Method: Degree of Urbanisation (contiguous 1 km2 cells, density 1,500+ people/km2, total 50,000+). This is a source-defined urban centre, not a municipality or province. No association with a separate administrative entity is inferred from proximity or name.

Source centroid: -22.8458, -43.3667. National context uses World Bank estimates, a separate series and geography; no national share is inferred here.

UN population series

YearPeopleMethod
19755,880,669Estimate
19806,680,298Estimate
19856,984,412Estimate
19907,269,491Estimate
19957,799,358Estimate
20008,416,754Estimate
20058,711,725Estimate
20108,980,518Estimate
20159,273,974Estimate
20209,417,822Estimate
20259,500,336Estimate
20309,540,571Projection
20359,550,536Projection
20409,509,583Projection
20459,434,617Projection
20509,299,537Projection

Largest UN urban centres · Fastest-growing urban centres

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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.

Why an urban centre is not a municipality →

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