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Dire Dawa — UN urban centre

483,674

Dire Dawa: 483,674 people. Reference: 2025 annual estimate · World rank #1,146 of 12,138 source urban centres. Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (CC BY 3.0 IGO). Source identifier: 7647; territory: Ethiopia (ETH). 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: 9.6007, 41.8543. National context uses World Bank estimates, a separate series and geography; no national share is inferred here.

UN population series

YearPeopleMethod
1975137,873Estimate
1980155,655Estimate
1985180,134Estimate
1990217,047Estimate
1995254,318Estimate
2000293,037Estimate
2005313,485Estimate
2010356,562Estimate
2015400,751Estimate
2020448,940Estimate
2025483,674Estimate
2030516,313Projection
2035551,369Projection
2040630,894Projection
2045670,187Projection
2050706,304Projection

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.

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Interpretation reviewed 12 October 2026. Underlying reference years are stated on the page; this is not a fresh census or dataset refresh.