What is the population of Colombo?
Colombo has a city population of 648,034. That is the population within the city's own boundary, not its wider metropolitan area. City population, GeoNames.
Capital city · Sri Lanka · Asia
Colombo
City population
648,034
#1
in Sri Lanka
#1
in Western Province
#859
worldwide
6.935, 79.849
About Colombo
The largest of 24 cities in the Western Province, Colombo holds 648,034 residents and accounts for 3% of Sri Lanka's national population as the country's capital. It sits at low elevation, 7 m above sea level. Four cities with populations between 29,000 and 65,000 lie within 8 km.
This summary is AI-generated from the figures on this page. The figures themselves come from the sources cited beside each value.
Key Facts
Country
Region
Rank in region
#1of 24
Capital
National capital
Elevation
7 m
Approximate — modelled, not surveyed
Time zone
Asia/Colombo
Coordinates
6.935, 79.849
Record updated
2019-09-05
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 60 in Sri LankaClosest 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 |
| Colombo | 648K |
Colombo Population FAQ
Where is Colombo?
Colombo is in Western Province, Sri Lanka. Its coordinates are 6.935, 79.849.
How big is Colombo compared with other cities in Sri Lanka?
It is the 1st largest of the 60 cities of 15,000 or more listed in Sri Lanka, holding 3.0% of the national population.