What is the population of Kobe?
Kobe has a city population of 1,525,152. That is the population within the city's own boundary, not its wider metropolitan area. City population, GeoNames.
About Kobe
Ranked 311th in the world, this city holds 1,525,152 people and accounts for 1.2% of Japan's national population. It stands as the largest city in Hyogo, 424 km from Tokyo. Several substantial cities cluster nearby: Nishinomiya (485,587 people, 14 km away), Amagasaki (459,593 people, 22 km away), and Akashi (303,601 people, 17 km away).
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 45
Elevation
35 m
Approximate — modelled, not surveyed
Time zone
Asia/Tokyo
Coordinates
34.691, 135.183
Record updated
2026-06-01
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 1,216 in JapanClosest 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 |
| Kobe | 1.53M |
Kobe Population FAQ
Where is Kobe?
Kobe is in Hyogo, Japan, 424 km from the capital, Tokyo. Its coordinates are 34.691, 135.183.
How big is Kobe compared with other cities in Japan?
It is the 8th largest of the 1,216 cities of 15,000 or more listed in Japan, holding 1.2% of the national population.