Nicaragua Cities by Population 2024

Referred to as the 'land of lakes and volcanoes', the Central American nation of Nicaragua is known for its biodiversity and is home to the second-largest rainforest in the Americas. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Managua, the city of Managua is the capital and largest city in Nicaragua. It has a population of just over one million in the city, which increases to 1.4 million in the metropolitan area, making it the third-largest city in Central America. A devastating earthquake in 1972 and a civil war in the 1980s caused destruction and disruption in Managua, and it has taken the city many years to recover. Today Managua is a diverse city, with inhabitants coming from a range of nationalities, including French, Italian, Russian and Turkish.

Nicaragua's other major cities are considerably smaller than Managua. Its second-largest city, León, has a population of just over 200,000 residents. Although relatively small, León is an important economic, agricultural, and commercial center of Nicaragua, and exports, among other things, sugarcane, peanuts and plantain. Masaya, known as the 'City of Flowers', has a population of 176,344 and is Nicaragua's third-largest city. It is located near the active Masaya Volcano, which last erupted in January 2016.