What is the population of Medan?
Medan has a city population of 2,486,283. That is the population within the city's own boundary, not its wider metropolitan area. City population, GeoNames.
City profile · Indonesia · Asia
Medan
City population
2,486,283
#5
in Indonesia
#1
in North Sumatra
#155
worldwide
3.583, 98.667 · 1,418 km from Jakarta
About Medan
The city accounts for 0.9% of Indonesia's national population, a modest share for the fifth-largest city in the country. Located 1,418 km from Jakarta, it is the largest of 32 cities in North Sumatra, with 2,486,283 residents in the city proper. Sunggal lies 6 km away with 157,914 people; Binjai and Percut, both within 22 km, have populations of 279,302 and 311,063 respectively.
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 32
Elevation
26 m
Approximate — modelled, not surveyed
Time zone
Asia/Jakarta
Coordinates
3.583, 98.667
Record updated
2026-06-10
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 446 in IndonesiaClosest 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 |
| Medan | 2.49M |
Medan Population FAQ
Where is Medan?
Medan is in North Sumatra, Indonesia, 1,418 km from the capital, Jakarta. Its coordinates are 3.583, 98.667.
How big is Medan compared with other cities in Indonesia?
It is the 5th largest of the 446 cities of 15,000 or more listed in Indonesia, holding 0.9% of the national population.