🌍 World Alive

Rotterdam — UN urban centre

1,023,590

Rotterdam: 1,023,590 people. Reference: 2025 annual estimate · World rank #500 of 12,138 source urban centres. Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (CC BY 3.0 IGO). Source identifier: 387; territory: Netherlands (NLD). 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: 51.9069, 4.4381. National context uses World Bank estimates, a separate series and geography; no national share is inferred here.

UN population series

YearPeopleMethod
1975830,527Estimate
1980826,318Estimate
1985851,287Estimate
1990874,757Estimate
1995901,864Estimate
2000908,520Estimate
2005913,238Estimate
2010906,563Estimate
2015952,062Estimate
2020976,072Estimate
20251,023,590Estimate
20301,046,245Projection
20351,057,910Projection
20401,060,631Projection
20451,059,073Projection
20501,054,040Projection

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.