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Cebu City — UN urban centre

3,044,564

Cebu City: 3,044,564 people. Reference: 2025 annual estimate · World rank #163 of 12,138 source urban centres. Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (CC BY 3.0 IGO). Source identifier: 5062; territory: Philippines (PHL). 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: 10.3088, 123.9028. National context uses World Bank estimates, a separate series and geography; no national share is inferred here.

UN population series

YearPeopleMethod
1975560,629Estimate
1980743,326Estimate
1985932,458Estimate
19901,153,769Estimate
19951,291,733Estimate
20001,609,537Estimate
20051,970,443Estimate
20102,332,416Estimate
20152,623,148Estimate
20202,889,534Estimate
20253,044,564Estimate
20303,191,880Projection
20353,324,871Projection
20403,486,000Projection
20453,584,466Projection
20503,651,959Projection

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.