What is the population of Kampala?
Kampala has a city population of 1,680,600. That is the population within the city's own boundary, not its wider metropolitan area. City population, GeoNames.
Capital city · Uganda · Africa
Kampala
City population
1,680,600
#1
in Uganda
#1
in Central Region
#268
worldwide
0.316, 32.582
About Kampala
With a metropolitan population of 3.652 million and annual growth of 4.9%, Kampala is Uganda's largest urban center. The city proper contains 1.68 million residents at a density of 19,323 people per km², making it a densely concentrated settlement. Situated at 1,223 m elevation, the city is served by Entebbe International Airport. Erias Lukwago leads the city administration.
This summary is AI-generated from the figures on this page. The figures themselves come from the sources cited beside each value.
Metro population
3,652,000
0.044% of world population
Archive estimateAnnual growth
+4.85%
Archive estimateDensity
19,323/km²
189 km² metro area
Key Facts
Country
Region
Rank in region
#1of 41
Leadership
Erias Lukwago
Coordinates
0.316, 32.582
Record updated
14 December 2025
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 141 in UgandaClosest 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 |
| Kampala | 1.68M |
Airports
Scheduled-service airports within 100 km, nearest first.
- Entebbe International AirportEBB
34 km from the city centre
Source: OurAirports, matched by distance.
Population Trend in Uganda
No free source publishes city population back to 1950, so the parent country's series is shown instead.
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1950 | 5,750,913 |
| 1960 | 7,640,973 |
| 1970 | 10,321,603 |
| 1980 | 13,275,741 |
| 1990 | 17,569,897 |
| 2000 | 24,000,150 |
| 2010 | 32,390,802 |
| 2020 | 44,457,152 |
| 2030 | 58,312,940 |
| 2040 | 72,020,418 |
| 2050 | 85,431,202 |
| 2060 | 97,542,311 |
| 2070 | 107,461,466 |
| 2080 | 114,812,179 |
| 2090 | 119,267,678 |
| 2100 | 120,835,192 |
Kampala Population FAQ
Where is Kampala?
Kampala is in Central Region, Uganda. Its coordinates are 0.316, 32.582.
How big is Kampala compared with other cities in Uganda?
It is the 1st largest of the 141 cities listed in Uganda, holding 3.3% of the national population.