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Kota Kinabalu — UN urban centre

789,885

Kota Kinabalu: 789,885 people. Reference: 2025 annual estimate · World rank #672 of 12,138 source urban centres. Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (CC BY 3.0 IGO). Source identifier: 3321; territory: Malaysia (MYS). 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: 5.9619, 116.0978. National context uses World Bank estimates, a separate series and geography; no national share is inferred here.

UN population series

YearPeopleMethod
197558,454Estimate
1980125,700Estimate
1985166,324Estimate
1990193,915Estimate
1995267,084Estimate
2000405,733Estimate
2005475,267Estimate
2010556,437Estimate
2015645,216Estimate
2020753,612Estimate
2025789,885Estimate
2030842,925Projection
2035928,158Projection
2040958,754Projection
2045991,570Projection
20501,014,684Projection

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.