🌍 World Alive

Ottawa — UN urban centre

605,121

Ottawa: 605,121 people. Reference: 2025 annual estimate · World rank #900 of 12,138 source urban centres. Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (CC BY 3.0 IGO). Source identifier: 3488; territory: Canada (CAN). 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: 45.3955, -75.7077. National context uses World Bank estimates, a separate series and geography; no national share is inferred here.

UN population series

YearPeopleMethod
1975278,367Estimate
1980314,965Estimate
1985349,938Estimate
1990394,978Estimate
1995419,603Estimate
2000452,721Estimate
2005476,023Estimate
2010517,663Estimate
2015555,228Estimate
2020588,996Estimate
2025605,121Estimate
2030623,082Projection
2035631,582Projection
2040660,872Projection
2045712,574Projection
2050715,605Projection

Largest UN urban centres · Fastest-growing urban centres

What changed during your lifetime?

Turn these figures into a private, five-scene personal world story.

Use this source record with the right definition

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.