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Portsmouth — UN urban centre

488,385

Portsmouth: 488,385 people. Reference: 2025 annual estimate · World rank #1,137 of 12,138 source urban centres. Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (CC BY 3.0 IGO). Source identifier: 5388; territory: United Kingdom (GBR). 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: 50.8303, -1.0863. National context uses World Bank estimates, a separate series and geography; no national share is inferred here.

UN population series

YearPeopleMethod
1975373,440Estimate
1980385,692Estimate
1985391,358Estimate
1990398,926Estimate
1995404,411Estimate
2000411,340Estimate
2005421,939Estimate
2010440,591Estimate
2015456,493Estimate
2020463,728Estimate
2025488,385Estimate
2030521,607Projection
2035530,682Projection
2040546,026Projection
2045553,183Projection
2050558,084Projection

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.