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

Van

Van · Turkey
City population
525,016
#22
in Turkey
#1
in Van
#1,077
worldwide
AnkaraVan
38.495, 43.383 · 920 km from Ankara
City population
525,016
Within the city boundary, not a metro area
Rank in Turkey
#22
of 416 cities of 15,000+
World rank
#1,077
of 31,365 cities listed
Share of Turkey
0.6%
of the national population

About Van

Turkey's 22nd-largest city by population, Van holds 525,016 residents and ranks 1,077th globally. Situated 920 km from Ankara, the city sits at 1,708 m elevation. Erciş lies 59 km away with 91,915 people; Adilcevaz is 66 km distant with a population of 52,781.

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

Position in Turkey
#22of 416
LargestSmallest
Position in Van
#1of 2
LargestSmallest

Key Facts

Country
Turkey
Region
Van
Rank in region
#1of 2
Distance to capital
920 km
to Ankara
Elevation
1,708 m
Approximate — modelled, not surveyed
Time zone
Europe/Istanbul
Coordinates
38.495, 43.383
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 416 in Turkey

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

59KMErciş92K people66KMAdilcevaz53K people83KMAhlat65K people89KMHizan15K people93KMPatnos87K 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. Van525K
City-proper figures only. Administrative boundaries differ between countries, so these are not directly comparable to metropolitan-area estimates.
Van 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
Van525K

Van Population FAQ

What is the population of Van?

Van has a city population of 525,016. That is the population within the city's own boundary, not its wider metropolitan area. City population, GeoNames.

Where is Van?

Van is in Van, Turkey, 920 km from the capital, Ankara. Its coordinates are 38.495, 43.383.

How big is Van compared with other cities in Turkey?

It is the 22nd largest of the 416 cities of 15,000 or more listed in Turkey, holding 0.6% of the national population.

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