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Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte - Colombo — UN urban centre

5,223,838

Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte - Colombo: 5,223,838 people. Reference: 2025 annual estimate · World rank #78 of 12,138 source urban centres. Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (CC BY 3.0 IGO). Source identifier: 615; territory: Sri Lanka (LKA). 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: 6.9194, 79.9213. National context uses World Bank estimates, a separate series and geography; no national share is inferred here.

UN population series

YearPeopleMethod
19752,053,180Estimate
19802,379,653Estimate
19852,534,188Estimate
19902,858,800Estimate
19953,289,989Estimate
20003,818,464Estimate
20054,080,390Estimate
20104,283,029Estimate
20154,613,535Estimate
20204,963,986Estimate
20255,223,838Estimate
20305,424,963Projection
20355,624,051Projection
20405,727,068Projection
20455,785,609Projection
20505,816,080Projection

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.