This statistic shows the percentage of the total population living in urban areas worldwide from 1950 to 2050, by regional development level. By 2050, more developed regions of the world will have 86.6 percent of their populations living in urban areas.

It is estimated that Europe had an urbanization rate of approximately 8.5 percent in the year 1800. The Netherlands and Belgium were some of the most heavily urbanized regions, due the growth of port cities such as Rotterdam and Antwerp during Netherlands' empirical expansion, and the legacy of urbanization in the region, which stems from its wool and craft industries in medieval times. Additionally, the decline of their agricultural sectors and smaller territories contributed to a lower rural population. Scotland and England had also become more urban throughout the British Empire's growth, although the agricultural revolution of the previous two centuries, along with the first industrial revolution, then led to more rapid urbanization during the 19th century. In contrast, there was a large imbalance between the east and west of the continent; the two largest empires, Austria and Russia, had the lowest levels of urbanization in Europe in 1800, due to their vast territories, lower maritime presence, and lack of industrial development.

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.

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.

In the year 1800, approximately five percent of the world's population lived in urban areas of 10,000 people or more. At this time, the world's population was just under one billion people, and the industrial revolution was in its early stages in Western Europe and North America. As industrialization spread across the world, urbanization rates rose accordingly. In 2021, the global urbanization rate was approximately 56 percent.

CN: Population: Usual Residence: Urbanization Rate: Fujian data was reported at 71.800 % in 2024. This records an increase from the previous number of 71.040 % for 2023. CN: Population: Usual Residence: Urbanization Rate: Fujian data is updated yearly, averaging 59.320 % from Dec 2000 (Median) to 2024, with 25 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 71.800 % in 2024 and a record low of 41.960 % in 2000. CN: Population: Usual Residence: Urbanization Rate: Fujian data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: Urbanization Rate.

This map shows the urbanization rate per country, in percentage of total country population. The need to feed 9 billion people by 2050 implies that the pressure on land and water will generally increase. This pressure on land and water may be further enhanced by the acceleration of urbanization process. If the city is a major consumer of space (often this space consists of rich alluvial land in coastal areas), it also poses problems in terms of use of resources. Agricultural uses of land resources and water resources are already, and will be more and more contended by other uses closer to proper urban lifestyle and urban fruition.

The resilience of population urbanisation development in countries along the Belt and Road reflects the level of resilience of population urbanisation development in the countries along the Belt and Road, with higher values indicating stronger resilience of population urbanisation development in the countries along the Belt and Road. The data on the resilience of population urbanisation development are prepared with reference to the World Bank's statistical database, using year-on-year data on two indicators, namely the number of urban population and the number of population in urban agglomerations with a population of over one million, from 2000 to 2019, and based on sensitivity and adaptability analysis, taking into account the year-on-year changes of each indicator. Based on the sensitivity and adaptability analysis, the product of the resilience of population urbanisation development was prepared through comprehensive diagnosis. "The data set on the resilience of population urbanisation development in the countries along the Belt and Road is an important reference for analysing and comparing the resilience of population urbanisation development in various countries.

CN: Population: Usual Residence: Urbanization Rate: Zhejiang data was reported at 75.500 % in 2024. This records an increase from the previous number of 74.230 % for 2023. CN: Population: Usual Residence: Urbanization Rate: Zhejiang data is updated yearly, averaging 62.910 % from Dec 2000 (Median) to 2024, with 25 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 75.500 % in 2024 and a record low of 48.700 % in 2000. CN: Population: Usual Residence: Urbanization Rate: Zhejiang data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: Urbanization Rate.

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.

CN: Population: Usual Residence: Urbanization Rate: Ningxia data was reported at 67.310 % in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 66.340 % for 2022. CN: Population: Usual Residence: Urbanization Rate: Ningxia data is updated yearly, averaging 21.480 % from Dec 1949 (Median) to 2023, with 75 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 67.310 % in 2023 and a record low of 7.090 % in 1949. CN: Population: Usual Residence: Urbanization Rate: Ningxia data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: Urbanization Rate.

This data is the global urban boundary of 222 scenarios combined by different population data sets, population density and population size thresholds, and the GIS model builder for calculating these data. See the README file for details.Reference：Li, W., Zhang, Y., Li, M., & Long, Y. (2024). Rethinking the country-level percentage of population residing in urban area with a global harmonized urban definition. iScience, 27(6), 110125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.110125.The UN (United Nations) collects global data on the country-level Percentage of Population Residing in Urban Area (PPRUA); however, variations in definitions of urban areas make these data incomparable across countries. This paper evaluates the numbers of national defined PPRUA within UN statistics, by comparing them with the numbers of PPRUA we estimated through global comparable definitions. Refer to the Degree of Urbanization framework from the UN, we propose 90 global harmonized methods to estimating PPRUA by combining different configurations of three global population datasets, six urban total population thresholds, and five urban population density thresholds. This approach demonstrated significant variations in country-level PPRUA estimations, with a wide 95% confidence interval (CI) range. When comparing the national defined PPRUA with the global harmonized estimations, we found that most lie between the upper 95% CI and the median of the estimations. This study highlights the need for globally harmonious PPRUA estimates, calling for a reassessment of datasets and thresholds in the future and investigating urbanization on a scale beyond the country level.

CN: Population: Usual Residence: Urbanization Rate: Hubei data was reported at 66.350 % in 2024. This records an increase from the previous number of 65.470 % for 2023. CN: Population: Usual Residence: Urbanization Rate: Hubei data is updated yearly, averaging 26.810 % from Dec 1949 (Median) to 2024, with 71 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 66.350 % in 2024 and a record low of 8.790 % in 1949. CN: Population: Usual Residence: Urbanization Rate: Hubei data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: Urbanization Rate.

CN: Population: Usual Residence: Urbanization Rate: Inner Mongolia data was reported at 70.700 % in 2024. This records an increase from the previous number of 69.580 % for 2023. CN: Population: Usual Residence: Urbanization Rate: Inner Mongolia data is updated yearly, averaging 42.500 % from Dec 1949 (Median) to 2024, with 59 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 70.700 % in 2024 and a record low of 12.370 % in 1949. CN: Population: Usual Residence: Urbanization Rate: Inner Mongolia data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: Urbanization Rate.

China Population: Urbanization Rate: Usual Residence data was reported at 67.000 % in 2024. This records an increase from the previous number of 66.160 % for 2023. China Population: Urbanization Rate: Usual Residence data is updated yearly, averaging 40.530 % from Dec 1982 (Median) to 2024, with 43 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 67.000 % in 2024 and a record low of 21.131 % in 1982. China Population: Urbanization Rate: Usual Residence data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: Urbanization Rate.

United States US: Urban Population data was reported at 267,278,643.000 Person in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 264,746,567.000 Person for 2016. United States US: Urban Population data is updated yearly, averaging 184,283,180.000 Person from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 267,278,643.000 Person in 2017 and a record low of 126,462,473.000 Person in 1960. United States US: Urban Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Urban population refers to people living in urban areas as defined by national statistical offices. It is calculated using World Bank population estimates and urban ratios from the United Nations World Urbanization Prospects. Aggregation of urban and rural population may not add up to total population because of different country coverages.; ; World Bank staff estimates based on the United Nations Population Division's World Urbanization Prospects: 2018 Revision.; Sum;

Population: Usual Residence: Urbanization Rate: Tibet data was reported at 38.880 % in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 37.390 % for 2022. Population: Usual Residence: Urbanization Rate: Tibet data is updated yearly, averaging 16.765 % from Dec 1970 (Median) to 2023, with 54 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 38.880 % in 2023 and a record low of 7.080 % in 1970. Population: Usual Residence: Urbanization Rate: Tibet data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GA: Population: Urbanization Rate.

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.

Population: Household Registration: Urbanization Rate: Heilongjiang: Harbin data was reported at 56.260 % in 2022. This records an increase from the previous number of 55.800 % for 2021. Population: Household Registration: Urbanization Rate: Heilongjiang: Harbin data is updated yearly, averaging 48.300 % from Dec 2000 (Median) to 2022, with 23 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 56.260 % in 2022 and a record low of 46.800 % in 2001. Population: Household Registration: Urbanization Rate: Heilongjiang: Harbin data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Harbin Municipal Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Socio-Demographic – Table CN.GE: Population: Prefecture Level City: Urbanization Rate. Since 2015,the donotation of Non-agriculture Population has been adjusted to Urban Population.

Sweden SE: Urban Population data was reported at 8,773,636.000 Person in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 8,618,398.000 Person for 2016. Sweden SE: Urban Population data is updated yearly, averaging 7,034,187.500 Person from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 8,773,636.000 Person in 2017 and a record low of 5,425,627.000 Person in 1960. Sweden SE: Urban Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Sweden – Table SE.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Urban population refers to people living in urban areas as defined by national statistical offices. It is calculated using World Bank population estimates and urban ratios from the United Nations World Urbanization Prospects. Aggregation of urban and rural population may not add up to total population because of different country coverages.; ; World Bank staff estimates based on the United Nations Population Division's World Urbanization Prospects: 2018 Revision.; Sum;