Riyadh — UN urban centre
Riyadh: 6,916,417 people. Reference: 2025 annual estimate · World rank #52 of 12,138 source urban centres. Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (CC BY 3.0 IGO). Source identifier: 2961; territory: Saudi Arabia (SAU). 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: 24.6886, 46.7206. National context uses World Bank estimates, a separate series and geography; no national share is inferred here.
UN population series
| Year | People | Method |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 125,637 | Estimate |
| 1985 | 660,294 | Estimate |
| 1990 | 1,373,813 | Estimate |
| 1995 | 1,964,399 | Estimate |
| 2000 | 2,557,269 | Estimate |
| 2005 | 3,465,681 | Estimate |
| 2010 | 4,491,846 | Estimate |
| 2015 | 5,674,659 | Estimate |
| 2020 | 6,293,552 | Estimate |
| 2025 | 6,916,417 | Estimate |
| 2030 | 7,455,576 | Projection |
| 2035 | 7,915,575 | Projection |
| 2040 | 8,368,183 | Projection |
| 2045 | 8,749,784 | Projection |
| 2050 | 9,152,552 | Projection |
Largest UN urban centres · Fastest-growing urban centres
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