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Guangzhou — UN urban centre

27,563,372

Guangzhou: 27,563,372 people. Reference: 2025 annual estimate · World rank #6 of 12,138 source urban centres. Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (CC BY 3.0 IGO). Source identifier: 11306; territory: China (CHN). 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: 23.1423, 113.2859. National context uses World Bank estimates, a separate series and geography; no national share is inferred here.

UN population series

YearPeopleMethod
19751,644,240Estimate
19802,086,190Estimate
19852,746,863Estimate
19904,135,425Estimate
19959,101,542Estimate
200018,970,258Estimate
200522,306,405Estimate
201024,200,998Estimate
201525,320,819Estimate
202026,508,282Estimate
202527,563,372Estimate
203028,442,486Projection
203528,911,695Projection
204029,263,739Projection
204529,344,403Projection
205029,243,076Projection

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.