What is the population of Chennai?
Chennai has a city population of 4,681,087. That is the population within the city's own boundary, not its wider metropolitan area. City population, GeoNames.
City profile · India · Asia
Chennai
City population
4,681,087
#6
in India
#1
in Tamil Nadu
#66
worldwide
13.088, 80.278 · 1,756 km from New Delhi
About Chennai
With a metropolitan population of 11,503,000, Chennai ranks among Asia's largest urban agglomerations. The city proper holds 4,681,087 residents at a density of 9,675 people per km², concentrated across relatively compact terrain near India's southeastern coast at an elevation of 14 m. Annual growth of 1.3% indicates steady expansion of this established urban center, which was founded in 1639. Chennai International Airport (MAA) serves the city's transportation needs, while the municipality operates under the leadership of M. K. Stalin.
This summary is AI-generated from the figures on this page. The figures themselves come from the sources cited beside each value.
Metro population
11,503,000
0.139% of world population
Archive estimateAnnual growth
+1.32%
Archive estimateDensity
9,675/km²
1,189 km² metro area
Key Facts
Country
Region
Rank in region
#1of 488
Founded
1639
Leadership
M. K. Stalin
Elevation
14 m
Approximate — modelled, not surveyed
Time zone
Asia/Kolkata
Coordinates
13.088, 80.278
Record updated
2024-09-05
Entry edited, not measured
City population, GeoNames. GeoNames publishes no year for its population figures, so “record updated” is when the entry was last edited — not the date the population was measured. Elevation is modelled from a digital elevation model rather than surveyed, so it is approximate.
Nearby Cities
All 3,732 in IndiaClosest listed cities by great-circle distance from the city centre.
Compared with the World's Largest Cities
City-proper population against the fifteen largest cities in the dataset.
| Name | City population |
|---|---|
| Shanghai | 24.9M |
| Beijing | 19M |
| Shenzhen | 17.5M |
| Guangzhou | 16.1M |
| Kinshasa | 16M |
| Istanbul | 15.7M |
| Lagos | 15.4M |
| Ho Chi Minh City | 14M |
| Chengdu | 13.6M |
| Lahore | 13M |
| Mumbai | 12.7M |
| São Paulo | 12.4M |
| Mexico City | 12.3M |
| Karachi | 11.6M |
| Tianjin | 11.1M |
| Chennai | 4.68M |
Airports
Scheduled-service airports within 100 km, nearest first.
- Chennai International AirportMAA
16 km from the city centre
Source: OurAirports, matched by distance.
Population Trend in India
No free source publishes city population back to 1950, so the parent country's series is shown instead.
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1950 | 346,278,821 |
| 1960 | 435,990,338 |
| 1970 | 545,864,268 |
| 1980 | 687,354,025 |
| 1990 | 864,972,221 |
| 2000 | 1,057,922,733 |
| 2010 | 1,243,481,564 |
| 2020 | 1,402,617,695 |
| 2030 | 1,525,138,844 |
| 2040 | 1,622,580,039 |
| 2050 | 1,679,589,259 |
| 2060 | 1,700,951,714 |
| 2070 | 1,689,202,539 |
| 2080 | 1,645,548,761 |
| 2090 | 1,580,305,096 |
| 2100 | 1,505,251,761 |
Chennai Population FAQ
Where is Chennai?
Chennai is in Tamil Nadu, India, 1,756 km from the capital, New Delhi. Its coordinates are 13.088, 80.278.
How big is Chennai compared with other cities in India?
It is the 6th largest of the 3,732 cities of 15,000 or more listed in India, holding 0.3% of the national population.