⚠️ Unconfirmeddemographic2023

Share of the population living in urban areas (Urban population, % of total population)

Name: Share of the population living in urban areas (Urban population, % of total population)
Creator: World Bank (from UN Population Division, World Urbanization Prospects)
Keywords: statistic-of-the-day, ai-generated, urbanization, cities, rural, settlement patterns, infrastructure, demography, UN WUP, World Bank

Percent of people living in urban areas by country (2023). A global snapshot of urbanization levels using UN/WB estimates.

Source: World Bank (from UN Population Division, World Urbanization Prospects)•174 countries

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Key Insights

Global Average

61.2%

Median: 60.3%

Countries Covered

174

with available data

Highest

Kuwait

100.0%

Lowest

Papua New Guinea

13.5%

Top 5 Countries

1Kuwait100.0%

2Singapore100.0%

3Afghanistan100.0%

4Qatar99.0%

5Belgium98.2%

By Region

Oceania86.7%(2 countries)

South America84.5%(7 countries)

North America74.7%(4 countries)

Europe73.5%(32 countries)

Asia69.5%(25 countries)

Key Findings

•Urbanization varies dramatically, from countries that are near-entirely urban to those where most people still live in rural areas.
•Several Gulf countries and city-states register ~100% urban population, reflecting highly concentrated settlement patterns.
•Many low-income and conflict-affected countries remain predominantly rural, often below one-third urban share.
•This indicator is a useful lens for infrastructure and service planning (housing, transport, water, sanitation), but should be interpreted alongside national urban definitions.

Country Rankings

Top 10 Countries

Bottom 10 Countries

Data Analysis

Value Distribution

How countries are distributed across the value range

Low (0.0%)High (100.0%)

Regional Comparison

Average values by world region (Global avg: 61.2%)

Oceania (2)

South America (7)

North America (4)

Europe (32)

Asia (25)

Africa (9)

Other (95)

About This Statistic

This statistic measures the share of each country’s population that lives in areas classified as “urban,” expressed as a percentage of the total population. It provides a clear snapshot of how concentrated people are in towns and cities versus rural areas, reflecting long-run structural change tied to jobs, infrastructure, and service access.

The World Bank publishes this indicator from the United Nations Population Division’s World Urbanization Prospects. While “urban” is not defined identically everywhere (countries use their own national definitions), the series is widely used for cross-country comparisons of urbanization levels and trends over time.

Full Data

Rank ↑	Country ↕	Value ↕
1	Kuwait	100.0%
2	Singapore	100.0%
3	Afghanistan	100.0%
4	Qatar	99.0%
5	Belgium	98.2%
6	Uruguay	96.0%
7	Iceland	94.0%
8	Israel	92.6%
9	Netherlands	92.6%
10	Jordan	92.3%
11	Argentina	92.3%
12	Japan	91.8%
13	Luxembourg	91.4%
14	Bahrain	90.7%
15	Gabon	90.0%
16	Lebanon	89.1%
17	Bahamas	88.9%
18	Denmark	88.2%
19	Venezuela	88.2%
20	Chile	88.0%
21	Sweden	87.9%
22	United Arab Emirates	87.8%
23	Greenland	87.6%
24	Brazil	87.6%
25	Central African Republic	87.2%
26	New Zealand	86.8%
27	Belize	86.7%
28	Oman	86.6%
29	Australia	86.6%
30	Finland	86.1%
31	Dominican Republic	85.6%
32	Botswana	85.3%
33	Saudi Arabia	84.8%
34	United Kingdom	84.5%
35	United States of America	83.3%
36	Norway	83.0%
37	Libya	82.1%
38	Colombia	82.0%
39	Canada	81.9%
40	Spain	81.5%
41	France	81.4%
42	South Korea	81.4%
43	Cayman Islands	81.2%
44	Costa Rica	81.1%
45	Mexico	81.0%
46	Greece	80.1%
47	Peru	79.7%
48	Benin	79.6%
49	Belarus	79.5%
50	Djibouti	78.6%
51	Germany	78.5%
52	Malaysia	78.5%
53	Cuba	77.6%
54	Bhutan	77.5%
55	Türkiye	77.2%
56	Islamic Republic of Iran	76.1%
57	Russian Federation	75.1%
58	Algeria	74.9%
59	Switzerland	74.4%
60	Czech Republic	74.1%
61	El Salvador	74.0%
62	Hungary	71.9%
63	Italy	71.4%
64	Iraq	71.0%
65	Bolivia	70.4%
66	Tunisia	70.2%
67	Estonia	70.0%
68	Mongolia	69.9%
69	Ukraine	69.6%
70	Republic of the Congo	69.0%
71	Latvia	68.6%
72	Panama	68.6%
73	Angola	68.0%
74	Lithuania	67.9%
75	South Africa	67.9%
76	Cyprus	67.6%
77	Portugal	67.0%
78	People's Republic of China	66.5%
79	Ecuador	65.7%
80	Republic of The Gambia	64.0%
81	Morocco	64.0%
82	Ireland	63.8%
83	Paraguay	62.7%
84	North Korea	62.2%
85	Albania	62.1%
86	Fiji	60.4%
87	Poland	60.3%
88	Georgia	60.2%
89	Falkland Islands (Malvinas)	59.7%
90	Nicaragua	59.5%
91	Bulgaria	59.4%
92	Austria	59.3%
93	Croatia	58.9%
94	Cameroon	58.7%
95	Kazakhstan	58.7%
96	The Republic of North Macedonia	58.6%
97	Haiti	58.4%
98	Bosnia and Herzegovina	58.4%
99	Indonesia	58.2%
100	Ghana	58.0%
101	Honduras	57.6%
102	Cape Verde	57.4%
103	Malta	57.4%
104	Serbia	57.4%
105	Mauritania	57.2%
106	Seychelles	56.6%
107	Montenegro	56.2%
108	Jamaica	56.1%
109	Slovenia	55.4%
110	Syrian Arab Republic	54.7%
111	Romania	54.6%
112	Slovakia	54.5%
113	Nigeria	54.3%
114	Liberia	53.7%
115	Turkmenistan	53.1%
116	Trinidad and Tobago	53.0%
117	Guatemala	52.7%
118	Cote d'Ivoire	52.6%
119	Thailand	52.6%
120	Namibia	52.0%
121	Equatorial Guinea	51.7%
122	Uzbekistan	50.7%
123	Faroe Islands	50.0%
124	Senegal	49.1%
125	Philippines	47.7%
126	Democratic Republic of the Congo	47.0%
127	Mali	46.7%
128	Somalia	46.4%
129	Zambia	46.0%
130	Sierra Leone	43.4%
131	Togo	43.2%
132	Egypt	43.0%
133	Moldova, Republic of	42.8%
134	Maldives	41.2%
135	Brunei Darussalam	41.0%
136	Mauritius	40.8%
137	Bangladesh	40.5%
138	Madagascar	40.3%
139	Mozambique	39.4%
140	Zimbabwe	39.0%
141	Yemen	39.0%
142	Lao People's Democratic Republic	38.4%
143	Vietnam	38.4%
144	Solomon Islands	38.2%
145	Kyrgyzstan	37.7%
146	Guinea	37.4%
147	United Republic of Tanzania	37.4%
148	Pakistan	37.0%
149	India	36.5%
150	Sudan	35.1%
151	Myanmar	33.5%
152	Lesotho	33.5%
153	Burkina Faso	31.0%
154	Kenya	28.6%
155	Tajikistan	27.9%
156	Eritrea	27.3%
157	Guyana	27.2%
158	Suriname	27.0%
159	Uganda	26.9%
160	Cambodia	25.4%
161	New Caledonia	25.3%
162	Eswatini	25.0%
163	Barbados	23.8%
164	Chad	23.1%
165	Ethiopia	22.3%
166	Nepal	21.7%
167	South Sudan	21.0%
168	Sri Lanka	18.7%
169	Armenia	18.4%
170	Rwanda	18.3%
171	Malawi	18.0%
172	Niger	17.4%
173	Burundi	14.1%
174	Papua New Guinea	13.5%

Showing 174 of 174 countries

Topics

#statistic-of-the-day #ai-generated #urbanization #cities #rural #settlement patterns #infrastructure #demography #UN WUP #World Bank

Data Source

This data comes from World Bank (from UN Population Division, World Urbanization Prospects) (2023).

View Original Source