This statistic shows a forecast of the top thirty most urbanized countries in the world in 2018. As of 2018, 100 percent of Singapore's population lived in urban areas.

The average for 2024 based on 20 countries was 76.97 percent. The highest value was in Uruguay: 95.85 percent and the lowest value was in Guatemala: 53.54 percent. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2024. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

This statistic shows a forecast of the top ten most urbanized countries in the world in 2050. By 2050, **** percent of Belgium's population is forecasted to live in an urban area.

In 2024, Gabon had the highest urbanization rate in Africa, with over 90 percent of the population living in urban areas. Libya and Djibouti followed at around 82 percent and 79 percent, respectively. On the other hand, many countries on the continent had the majority of the population residing in rural areas. As of 2023, urbanization in Malawi, Rwanda, Niger, and Burundi was below 20 percent. A growing urban population On average, the African urbanization rate stood at approximately 45 percent in 2023. The number of people living in urban areas has been growing steadily since 2000 and is forecast to increase further in the coming years. The urbanization process is particularly rapid in Burundi, Uganda, and Tanzania. In these countries, the urban population grew by over five percent in 2023 compared to the previous year. However, in 39 countries on the continent, the urban population growth was over three percent. The most populous cities in Africa Africa’s largest city is Lagos in Nigeria, counting around nine million people. It is followed by Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Cairo in Egypt, each with over seven million inhabitants. Moreover, other cities on the continent are growing rapidly. The population of Bujumbura in Burundi will increase by 123 percent between 2020 and 2035, registering the highest growth rate on the continent. Other fast-growing cities are Zinder in Niger, Kampala in Uganda, and Kabinda in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The average for 2024 based on 27 countries was 74.63 percent. The highest value was in Belgium: 98.22 percent and the lowest value was in Slovakia: 54.17 percent. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2024. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

The average for 2024 based on 196 countries was 61.7 percent. The highest value was in Bermuda: 100 percent and the lowest value was in Papua New Guinea: 13.88 percent. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2024. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

This statistic shows the degree of urbanization in the Arab world (Arab League) countries in 2024. Urbanization is defined as the share of urban population in the total population. In 2024, 75.75 percent of the total population of Algeria lived in urban areas.

The average for 2024 based on 11 countries was 54.11 percent. The highest value was in Singapore: 100 percent and the lowest value was in Cambodia: 26.03 percent. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2024. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

The statistic shows the degree of urbanization in OECD countries in 2018. In 2018, ******* had the highest degree of urbanization among OECD countries, with ** percent of the population residing in urban areas.

This statistic represents the ** countries with the lowest degree of urbanization in 2018. In 2018, ** percent of the population of Burundi were living in urban areas.

Actual value and historical data chart for Panama Urban Population Percent Of Total

In 2025, the degree of urbanization worldwide was at 58 percent. North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean were the regions with the highest level of urbanization, with over four-fifths of the population residing in urban areas. The degree of urbanization defines the share of the population living in areas defined as "cities". On the other hand, less than half of Africa's population lives in urban settlements. Globally, China accounts for over one-quarter of the built-up areas of more than 500,000 inhabitants. The definition of a city differs across various world regions - some countries count settlements with 100 houses or more as urban, while others only include the capital of a country or provincial capitals in their count. Largest agglomerations worldwideThough North America is the most urbanized continent, no U.S. city was among the top ten urban agglomerations worldwide in 2023. Tokyo-Yokohama in Japan was the largest urban area in the world that year, with 37.7 million inhabitants. New York ranked 13th, with 21.4 million inhabitants. Eight of the 10 most populous cities are located in Asia. ConnectivityIt may be hard to imagine how the reality will look in 2050, with 70 percent of the global population living in cities, but some statistics illustrate the ways urban living differs from suburban and rural living. American urbanites may lead more “connected” (i.e., internet-connected) lives than their rural and/or suburban counterparts. As of 2021, around 89 percent of people living in urban areas owned a smartphone. Internet usage was also higher in cities than in rural areas. On the other hand, rural areas always have, and always will, attract those who want to escape the rush of the city.

The dataset appears to provide information on the percentage of the total population living in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million people for various countries, spanning multiple years. The columns are: Entity: The name of the country. Code: The country code (likely ISO 3166-1 alpha-3). Year: The year of the data record. Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million (% of total population): The percentage of the total population living in urban areas with more than 1 million inhabitants.

In the year 1500, the share of Western Europe's population living in urban areas was just six percent, but this rose to 31 percent by the end of the 19th century. Despite this drastic change, development was quite slow between 1500 and 1800, and it was not until the industrial revolution when there was a spike in urbanization. As Britain was the first region to undergo the industrial revolution, from around the 1760s until the 1840s, these areas were the most urbanized in Europe by 1890. The Low Countries Prior to the 19th century, Belgium and the Netherlands had been the most urbanized regions due to the legacy of their proto-industrial areas in the medieval period, and then the growth of their port cities during the Netherlands' empirical expansion (Belgium was a part of the Netherlands until the 1830s). Belgium was also quick to industrialize in the 1800s, and saw faster development than its larger, more economically powerful neighbors, France and Germany. Least-urban areas Ireland was the only Western European region with virtually no urbanization in the 16th and 17th century, but the industrial growth of Belfast and Dublin (then major port cities of the British Empire) saw this change by the late-1800s. The region of Scandinavia was the least-urbanized area in Western Europe by 1890, but it saw rapid economic growth in Europe during the first half of the following century.

The average for 2024 based on 53 countries was 49.2 percent. The highest value was in Gabon: 91.31 percent and the lowest value was in Burundi: 15.16 percent. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2024. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

In 2025, China's cities made up one-fourth of the global land area, consisting of built-up urban areas with populations of 500,000 and more. India's urban areas made up **** percent of the land area classified as large urban cities worldwide.

Dataset Description

The dataset contains data for urban population total (in people) and % of total population for years 1960-2020.

Data Description

Country Name: name of country Country Code: ISO code of country Indicator Name/Code: name/code of indicator used in World Bank data 1960-2020: years

Source

Data for following indices was provided by World Bank: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL

Inspiration

• How percentage of urban population has developed in different continents?
• Which the "most urban" country? (analyze both percentage and total urban population)
• Are there any countries that had negative tendencies in the urban population level?

Hope you enjoy the dataset!

This dataset about Urban population by country is extracted from Flourish visualisation. If you want to know more about Flourish click here.

In 2020, about 82.66 percent of the total population in the United States lived in cities and urban areas. As the United States was one of the earliest nations to industrialize, it has had a comparatively high rate of urbanization over the past two centuries. The urban population became larger than the rural population during the 1910s, and by the middle of the century it is expected that almost 90 percent of the population will live in an urban setting. Regional development of urbanization in the U.S. The United States began to urbanize on a larger scale in the 1830s, as technological advancements reduced the labor demand in agriculture, and as European migration began to rise. One major difference between early urbanization in the U.S. and other industrializing economies, such as the UK or Germany, was population distribution. Throughout the 1800s, the Northeastern U.S. became the most industrious and urban region of the country, as this was the main point of arrival for migrants. Disparities in industrialization and urbanization was a key contributor to the Union's victory in the Civil War, not only due to population sizes, but also through production capabilities and transport infrastructure. The Northeast's population reached an urban majority in the 1870s, whereas this did not occur in the South until the 1950s. As more people moved westward in the late 1800s, not only did their population growth increase, but the share of the urban population also rose, with an urban majority established in both the West and Midwest regions in the 1910s. The West would eventually become the most urbanized region in the 1960s, and over 90 percent of the West's population is urbanized today. Urbanization today New York City is the most populous city in the United States, with a population of 8.3 million, while California has the largest urban population of any state. California also has the highest urbanization rate, although the District of Columbia is considered 100 percent urban. Only four U.S. states still have a rural majority, these are Maine, Mississippi, Montana, and West Virginia.

Global Share of Urban Population Using at Least Basic Drinking Water Services by Country, 2023 Discover more data with ReportLinker!