9 Ways to Increase Population in Civilization 6

Every city in Civilization 6 has a population figure that represents how many citizens it has. Keeping your cities’ populations growing is important for the sake of increasing science and cultural output. Each citizen in a Civ 6 city generates 0.5 science and 0.3 culture. For example, 10 citizens in a city will increase science and cultural output by five and three. So, maintaining good population growth can help when it comes to winning Civilization 6 games. These are nine ways you can boost population growth in Civilization 6.

Add Farms to Tiles

Adding farms to suitable terrain tiles with builders is one of the more basic ways to increase population in Civilization 6. One farm on its own provides a +1 food yield and +0.5 housing increase. Increasing food production by adding more farms will increase population growth. The faster a city fills its food basket, the quicker its population will grow.

Expand Housing With Sewers and Neighborhood Districts

Housing is a game feature that affects population growth in Civilization 6. If a city has two more houses than its overall population size, the growth rate from food production for it will be 100%. However, growth rates from food drops when housing minus population drops to the following levels:

• 50% (50% drop): -1 housing
• 25% (75% drop): -4 housing
• 0% (100% drop): -5 housing

Thus, adding more housing to keep it two higher than a city’s overall population total will enhance population growth rates from food production. To do this, it’s often necessary to build Sewers and then Neighborhood districts for larger cities. A Sewer building increases housing by +2. A Neighborhood district increases housing by a variable +2 to +6 amount, depending on its tile appeal bonus.

Increase Amenities With Entertainment Districts

Increasing amenities for your citizens has a positive effect on city population growth. For example, having three or more amenities for a city than needed will boost its population growth by 20% and non-food yields by 10%. That’s the maximum amenity population boost for an ecstatic population.

Building Entertainment District buildings is a good way to increase amenities, and with that, population in Civilization 6. Entertainment buildings like the Arena, Zoo, and Stadium all increase amenities for a city by variable amounts. For example, the Arena building increases a city’s amenities by +2.

Build Buildings That Enhance Food Production

There are five buildings you can add to cities that increase food production for better population growth in Civilization 6. The Granary and Water Mills are two city center buildings that each provide a +1 food production. If you add a Harbor to a city, build the Lighthouse and Seaport buildings for a combined +3 food production increase. The Gurdwara religious building also increases food production by +2.

Secure Resources With Food Bonuses

Securing more resource commodities by enhancing tiles that include them can boost population growth in two ways. Firstly, because resources provide more amenities for your civilization. Having more amenities can generally increase the population in Civilization 6, with population growth bonuses for them.

However, numerous resources also increase food yields when worked. Thus, securing more of such resources will also boost population growth by increasing food production. These are the resources with food bonuses:

• Cattle
• Fish
• Rice
• Sheep
• Wheat
• Horses
• Niter
• Citrus
• Honey
• Spices
• Sugar
• Wine
• Honey
• Bananas

Establish Trade Routes

You can boost population growth for specific cities in Civilization 6 by establishing more trade routes that increase food yields. Recruit a Trader unit in a city where you want to boost population growth. Then, select a trade route that offers the biggest food yields.

Build the Petra or Huey Teocalli Wonders

The Huey Teocalli Wonder is a good one to build for the increasing population in Civilization 6, primarily because it enhances food production. This wonder provides a +1 food yield and +1 production for all lake tiles within your borders. Plus, it also provides +1 amenity for each lake within one tile of the Huey Teocalli. With the best configuration, the Huey Teocalli can provide +6 amenities.

Building Petra can also be a good way to boost population growth in a city with many desert tiles. Petra provides +2 food, +2 gold, and + 1 production yields for all a city’s desert tiles. Thus, Petra’s food production increases for desert tiles will stimulate better population growth.

Select the Goddess of Hunt Pantheon

Goddess of Hunt is one of the best pantheons to select for increasing food production and population growth. Selecting Goddess of Hunt will give all your camps a +1 food yield bonus. These can amount to a more substantial food production increase if your civilization includes many deer, furs, honey, ivory, and truffle camp resources.

Select the Food Yield Optimization Option

All cities have six yield optimization options for gold, faith, culture, science, production, and food. Selecting to optimize your city for maximum food yields will increase its population growth rate. If a city’s population ever starts falling, selecting the food optimization option is one of the best ways to re-establish population growth.

At the very least, you must try to sustain population growth in all your cities throughout the game. Building more farms and food production buildings will usually be sufficient to do that. However, increasing your growing population in Civilization 6 further by expanding housing and entertainment will enable you to reap the benefits from higher science and cultural output that more citizens provide.