Essen — UN urban centre
Essen: 2,717,087 people. Reference: 2025 annual estimate · World rank #183 of 12,138 source urban centres. Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (CC BY 3.0 IGO). Source identifier: 675; territory: Germany (DEU). 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: 51.4886, 6.9722. National context uses World Bank estimates, a separate series and geography; no national share is inferred here.
UN population series
| Year | People | Method |
|---|---|---|
| 1975 | 2,851,143 | Estimate |
| 1980 | 2,840,890 | Estimate |
| 1985 | 2,702,820 | Estimate |
| 1990 | 2,795,385 | Estimate |
| 1995 | 2,827,865 | Estimate |
| 2000 | 2,709,378 | Estimate |
| 2005 | 2,668,853 | Estimate |
| 2010 | 2,558,099 | Estimate |
| 2015 | 2,541,231 | Estimate |
| 2020 | 2,699,400 | Estimate |
| 2025 | 2,717,087 | Estimate |
| 2030 | 2,678,526 | Projection |
| 2035 | 2,641,097 | Projection |
| 2040 | 2,607,218 | Projection |
| 2045 | 2,579,043 | Projection |
| 2050 | 2,546,415 | Projection |
Largest UN urban centres · Fastest-growing urban centres
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