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Karachi — UN urban centre

21,422,590

Karachi: 21,422,590 people. Reference: 2025 annual estimate · World rank #11 of 12,138 source urban centres. Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (CC BY 3.0 IGO). Source identifier: 2578; territory: Pakistan (PAK). 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: 24.8967, 67.0652. National context uses World Bank estimates, a separate series and geography; no national share is inferred here.

UN population series

YearPeopleMethod
19754,626,701Estimate
19805,819,767Estimate
19856,810,930Estimate
19907,977,466Estimate
19959,457,981Estimate
200010,799,503Estimate
200512,184,764Estimate
201013,950,654Estimate
201515,811,774Estimate
202019,340,628Estimate
202521,422,590Estimate
203023,598,646Projection
203525,897,578Projection
204028,218,999Projection
204530,414,556Projection
205032,592,965Projection

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.