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Barcelona — UN urban centre

3,982,704

Barcelona: 3,982,704 people. Reference: 2025 annual estimate · World rank #114 of 12,138 source urban centres. Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (CC BY 3.0 IGO). Source identifier: 5068; territory: Spain (ESP). 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: 41.4252, 2.1551. National context uses World Bank estimates, a separate series and geography; no national share is inferred here.

UN population series

YearPeopleMethod
19752,234,530Estimate
19802,329,061Estimate
19852,416,126Estimate
19902,502,305Estimate
19952,746,288Estimate
20002,831,378Estimate
20053,048,752Estimate
20103,262,861Estimate
20153,551,880Estimate
20203,877,253Estimate
20253,982,704Estimate
20304,049,293Projection
20354,084,555Projection
20404,112,669Projection
20454,122,571Projection
20504,117,282Projection

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.