🌍 World Alive

Bukit Mertajam — UN urban centre

517,326

Bukit Mertajam: 517,326 people. Reference: 2025 annual estimate · World rank #1,071 of 12,138 source urban centres. Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (CC BY 3.0 IGO). Source identifier: 477; 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: 5.3833, 100.4212. National context uses World Bank estimates, a separate series and geography; no national share is inferred here.

UN population series

YearPeopleMethod
1975160,188Estimate
1980185,602Estimate
1985218,634Estimate
1990255,486Estimate
1995317,462Estimate
2000347,419Estimate
2005393,437Estimate
2010428,903Estimate
2015461,882Estimate
2020487,505Estimate
2025517,326Estimate
2030536,736Projection
2035546,115Projection
2040553,323Projection
2045559,065Projection
2050561,209Projection

Largest UN urban centres · Fastest-growing urban centres

What changed during your lifetime?

Turn these figures into a private, five-scene personal world story.

Use this source record with the right definition

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.