Chennai — UN urban centre
Chennai: 11,153,205 people. Reference: 2025 annual estimate · World rank #29 of 12,138 source urban centres. Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (CC BY 3.0 IGO). Source identifier: 10747; territory: India (IND). 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: 13.0445, 80.2034. National context uses World Bank estimates, a separate series and geography; no national share is inferred here.
UN population series
| Year | People | Method |
|---|---|---|
| 1975 | 4,484,115 | Estimate |
| 1980 | 5,183,417 | Estimate |
| 1985 | 5,721,576 | Estimate |
| 1990 | 6,322,625 | Estimate |
| 1995 | 6,911,173 | Estimate |
| 2000 | 7,612,508 | Estimate |
| 2005 | 8,507,759 | Estimate |
| 2010 | 9,290,701 | Estimate |
| 2015 | 10,092,351 | Estimate |
| 2020 | 10,919,927 | Estimate |
| 2025 | 11,153,205 | Estimate |
| 2030 | 11,350,843 | Projection |
| 2035 | 11,554,088 | Projection |
| 2040 | 11,643,881 | Projection |
| 2045 | 11,743,611 | Projection |
| 2050 | 11,756,606 | Projection |
Largest UN urban centres · Fastest-growing urban centres
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