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Cape Town — UN urban centre

770,260

Cape Town: 770,260 people. Reference: 2025 annual estimate · World rank #692 of 12,138 source urban centres. Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (CC BY 3.0 IGO). Source identifier: 11569; 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: 20.4642, 85.8815. National context uses World Bank estimates, a separate series and geography; no national share is inferred here.

UN population series

YearPeopleMethod
1975287,922Estimate
1980354,511Estimate
1985411,014Estimate
1990471,511Estimate
1995551,692Estimate
2000626,105Estimate
2005663,470Estimate
2010696,554Estimate
2015728,122Estimate
2020764,441Estimate
2025770,260Estimate
2030787,469Projection
2035793,941Projection
2040795,548Projection
2045797,140Projection
2050793,934Projection

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.