🌍 World Alive

Zhangye — UN urban centre

211,842

Zhangye: 211,842 people. Reference: 2025 annual estimate · World rank #2,800 of 12,138 source urban centres. Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (CC BY 3.0 IGO). Source identifier: 3473; 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: 38.938, 100.4569. National context uses World Bank estimates, a separate series and geography; no national share is inferred here.

UN population series

YearPeopleMethod
199058,361Estimate
1995126,388Estimate
2000245,792Estimate
2005244,028Estimate
2010234,387Estimate
2015221,739Estimate
2020212,646Estimate
2025211,842Estimate
2030209,851Projection
2035208,114Projection
2040205,485Projection
2045201,666Projection
2050195,479Projection

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.