Largest Cities by Population in Sri Lanka (2025)

Below are the urban areas with more than 100,000 inhabitants in Sri Lanka ranked by population.

Urban Area (or urban agglomeration) population refers to the population contained within the contours of a contiguous territory inhabited at urban density levels, typically comprising a city and its surrounding suburban fringe.

Rank	Urban Area	Population Estimate (2025)	1 Year Change (over 2024)	Land Area (Km²)	Density (P/Km²)	Global Rank	Projections (2030)	Projections (2050)
1	Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte - Colombo	5,223,838	1%	1,342	3,893	78	5,424,963	5,816,080
2	Kandy	785,519	1.61%	299	2,627	675	811,850	880,569
3	Galle	346,263	0.94%	148	2,340	1,651	357,562	404,907
4	Matara	292,019	1.32%	131	2,229	1,987	302,801	324,577
5	Jaffna	200,544	−1.99%	76	2,639	2,984	188,934	157,266
6	Kalmunai	156,093	4.18%	40	3,902	3,882	159,078	167,313
7	Batticaloa	147,618	0.4%	51	2,894	4,116	153,316	161,907
8	Wennappuwa	106,641	6.81%	64	1,666	5,795	114,629	123,546
9	Matale	102,855	0.73%	34	3,025	6,013	110,539	122,666
10	Akkaraipattu	101,464	0.44%	39	2,602	6,090	105,281	108,871
11	Ambalangoda	96,788	1.55%	41	2,361	6,390	101,604	110,512
12	Trincomalee	87,732	1.1%	33	2,659	7,091	89,330	92,524
13	Badulla	77,273	0.51%	22	3,512	8,065	78,815	81,744
14	Ratnapura	74,671	1.94%	27	2,766	8,340	77,436	95,352
15	Kurunegala	71,795	1.48%	30	2,393	8,662	77,076	91,229
16	Gampola	69,756	0.72%	21	3,322	8,895	71,871	76,597
17	Sammanturai	62,909	2.02%	13	4,839	9,850	64,095	66,534
18	Puttalam	59,876	1.05%	18	3,326	10,331	61,242	64,144
19	Valaichchenai	59,292	0.32%	10	5,929	10,424	59,903	62,353
20	Tamaraivillu	57,773	0.46%	20	2,889	10,669	59,010	63,737
21	Mawanella	57,474	–	21	2,737	10,722	62,275	66,834
22	Diyatalawa	56,941	–	20	2,847	10,820	58,080	60,322
23	Chenkaladhi EP	55,232	1.39%	17	3,249	11,147	56,071	85,929
24	Anuradhapura	53,715	0.25%	18	2,984	11,468	55,009	57,587

Largest Cities by Population in Sri Lanka (2025)

See also