What is the population of Kota Bharu?
Kota Bharu has a city population of 568,900. That is the population within the city's own boundary, not its wider metropolitan area. City population, GeoNames.
About Kota Bharu
At 10 m above sea level, Kota Bharu is the largest city in Kelantan and holds 1.6% of Malaysia's population at 568,900 residents. The city sits 337 km from Kuala Lumpur. Pasir Mas, 14 km away, is the nearest large neighbour at 230,424 people; three smaller cities lie within 23 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 11
Elevation
10 m
Approximate — modelled, not surveyed
Time zone
Asia/Kuala_Lumpur
Coordinates
6.124, 102.243
Record updated
2026-04-14
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 350 in MalaysiaClosest 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 |
| Kota Bharu | 569K |
Kota Bharu Population FAQ
Where is Kota Bharu?
Kota Bharu is in Kelantan, Malaysia, 337 km from the capital, Kuala Lumpur. Its coordinates are 6.124, 102.243.
How big is Kota Bharu compared with other cities in Malaysia?
It is the 11th largest of the 350 cities of 15,000 or more listed in Malaysia, holding 1.6% of the national population.