1,206-CITY ATLASSOURCE-BACKED CITY REFERENCE
Zambia
Compare this sourced profile of Kitwe, Zambia before planning. Stable fields identify the place; confirm current transport, access and opening details with official sources.
01What the data says — and does not say
This page separates the checked GeoNames row for Kitwe—665,961, Africa/Lusaka, and source coordinates—from live travel claims. Those fields identify and compare the record; they do not prove current transport, accessibility, census totals, or a City Atlas Club visit.
Wikidata's localized description: city in Zambia.
02This city's dataset fingerprint
The source row behind Kitwe is GeoNames ID 911148. Its recorded administrative path is Copperbelt → Zambia, and GeoNames classifies the place as a populated place. Kitwe occurs once as a primary city label in this atlas sample; the numeric ID remains the durable source key if names change. The city row itself was updated 2024-12-02; that date belongs to the source record, not to every transport or visitor detail in the real destination.
Within the fixed 1,206-record atlas, Kitwe ranks 828 by recorded population. Inside the 3 selected Zambia entries it ranks 2; inside the 243 entries in its broad region it ranks 173. Its 665,961 population value is 1.00 times the 665,961 median for the country cohort and 0.74 times the 902,588 regional median. Kitwe is rank 2 among the 3 selected Zambia entries, so a percentage band would overstate this small cohort. Kitwe's recorded value stays within one quarter of the country-cohort median used here. These comparisons describe this selected dataset only; they are not current census rankings or official urban-area boundaries.
Kitwe's three nearest other atlas coordinates are Ndola at 49.069 km with 627,503 recorded people; Lubumbashi at 149.905 km with 2,221,925 recorded people; Likasi at 258.22 km with 635,768 recorded people. The closest-to-farthest distance spread is 209.151 km. Compared with Ndola, Kitwe's recorded population is 1.06 times as large. Against Kitwe, Ndola follows Copperbelt → Zambia in the source. Its point has lower latitude and higher longitude; it belongs to the same selected Zambia cohort, uses the shared Africa/Lusaka identifier, and carries first-order administrative seat rather than populated place. Its recorded population is below Kitwe's. Against Kitwe, Lubumbashi follows Lubumbashi (city) → Haut-Katanga → Congo - Kinshasa in the source. Its point has higher latitude and lower longitude; it belongs to the selected Congo - Kinshasa cohort rather than Zambia, uses Africa/Lubumbashi instead of Africa/Lusaka, and carries first-order administrative seat rather than populated place. Its recorded population is above Kitwe's. Against Kitwe, Likasi follows Likasi → Haut-Katanga → Congo - Kinshasa in the source. Its point has higher latitude and lower longitude; it belongs to the selected Congo - Kinshasa cohort rather than Zambia, uses Africa/Lubumbashi instead of Africa/Lusaka, and carries the same populated place class. Its recorded population is below Kitwe's. Its nearest-neighbor distance ranks 427 of 1,206 from shortest to longest in the same snapshot. Kitwe's nearest-coordinate gap sits in the second quarter of atlas distances. This pattern can reveal whether other catalog references are geographically close, but it cannot establish whether a border crossing is possible or practical, or whether rail, road, fare, or journey-time connections exist. Read as one record signature, GeoNames 911148, the coordinate pair 12.8024 / 28.2132, country rank 2 of 3, and neighbor GeoNames 901344 at 49.069 km bind Kitwe to a reproducible comparison. That combined key distinguishes the row; it is not a recommendation or evidence of a physical connection.
Kitwe's reference point is 12.8024° south and 28.2132° east. The IANA identifier Africa/Lusaka is shared by 3 city rows in this catalog, while the GeoNames class PPL is shared by 243 rows. Kitwe's row carries a first-order administrative label but no second-order label. Kitwe's point falls in the near-equatorial coordinate band used by this atlas's row checks. Kitwe's time-zone field defines the narrower catalog cohort; its place class is shared more broadly. GeoNames supplies no elevation for Kitwe, so the profile preserves that missing value instead of guessing terrain. Together these fields form a reproducible identity check for this page, not a claim about walkability, climate or accessibility.
03Nearby atlas references
Kitwe's closest other entries in this atlas are Ndola (49.069 km), Lubumbashi (149.905 km), Likasi (258.22 km).
04Verify before you book
Before visiting Kitwe, confirm changing decisions with current first-party sources:
Read how City Atlas Club verifies changing travel facts →05Sources and freshness
GeoNames updated the row 2024-12-02; the atlas checked the dataset 2026-08-04. Available Wikidata fields were verified in the same run.
GeoNames data: CC BY 4.0. Wikidata labels and descriptions: CC0 1.0.