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World Measure
The population almanac240 countries · 31,365 cities · UN WPP 2024
City profile · Iraq · Asia

Karbala

Karbala · Iraq
City population
1,218,732
#5
in Iraq
#1
in Karbala
#432
worldwide
BaghdadKarbala
32.616, 44.025 · 88 km from Baghdad
City population
1,218,732
Within the city boundary, not a metro area
Rank in Iraq
#5
of 95 cities of 15,000+
World rank
#432
of 31,365 cities listed
Share of Iraq
2.6%
of the national population

About Karbala

Home to 1,218,732 people, Karbala ranks fifth among Iraq's listed cities and accounts for 2.6% of the national population. The city sits 88 km from Baghdad and is surrounded by several substantial neighbours: Al Hindīyah lies 20 km away with 139,578 residents, while Al Hillah, the country's third-largest city at 455,700, stands 41 km distant. Al-Musayab (101,873 people, 31 km away) and Saddat al Hindīyah (35,720 people, 26 km away) complete a cluster of urban centres within a 41 km radius.

This summary is AI-generated from the figures on this page. The figures themselves come from the sources cited beside each value.

Position in Iraq
#5of 95
LargestSmallest
Position in Karbala
#1of 2
LargestSmallest

Key Facts

Country
Iraq
Region
Karbala
Rank in region
#1of 2
Distance to capital
88 km
to Baghdad
Elevation
32 m
Approximate — modelled, not surveyed
Time zone
Asia/Baghdad
Coordinates
32.616, 44.025
Record updated
2025-12-24
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 95 in Iraq

Closest listed cities by great-circle distance from the city centre.

20KMAl Hindīyah140K people26KMSaddat al Hindīyah36K people31KMAl-Musayab102K people36KMAl Maḩāwīl31K people41KMAl Hillah456K people

Compared with the World's Largest Cities

City-proper population against the fifteen largest cities in the dataset.

  1. Shanghai24.9M
  2. Beijing19M
  3. Shenzhen17.5M
  4. Guangzhou16.1M
  5. Kinshasa16M
  6. Istanbul15.7M
  7. Lagos15.4M
  8. Ho Chi Minh City14M
  9. Chengdu13.6M
  10. Lahore13M
  11. Mumbai12.7M
  12. São Paulo12.4M
  13. Mexico City12.3M
  14. Karachi11.6M
  15. Tianjin11.1M
  16. Karbala1.22M
City-proper figures only. Administrative boundaries differ between countries, so these are not directly comparable to metropolitan-area estimates.
Karbala compared with the fifteen largest cities
NameCity population
Shanghai24.9M
Beijing19M
Shenzhen17.5M
Guangzhou16.1M
Kinshasa16M
Istanbul15.7M
Lagos15.4M
Ho Chi Minh City14M
Chengdu13.6M
Lahore13M
Mumbai12.7M
São Paulo12.4M
Mexico City12.3M
Karachi11.6M
Tianjin11.1M
Karbala1.22M

Karbala Population FAQ

What is the population of Karbala?

Karbala has a city population of 1,218,732. That is the population within the city's own boundary, not its wider metropolitan area. City population, GeoNames.

Where is Karbala?

Karbala is in Karbala, Iraq, 88 km from the capital, Baghdad. Its coordinates are 32.616, 44.025.

How big is Karbala compared with other cities in Iraq?

It is the 5th largest of the 95 cities of 15,000 or more listed in Iraq, holding 2.6% of the national population.

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