World data · 194 countries · updated October 2026

Urban population by country

The percentage of each country's population living in urban areas, ranked — the setting almost every Alpha and Beta childhood now takes place in.

The short answer

Kuwait leads the 194 countries ranked here on urban population share at 100%, followed by Bahrain at 100% and Singapore at 100%. The median country is Ecuador at 65%, against a world average of 58%.

#1 100% Kuwait Middle East & North Africa #2 100% Bahrain Middle East & North Africa #3 100% Singapore East Asia & Pacific Median 65% Ecuador The middle of 194

World 58% World average Population-weighted

What this measures

The share of the population living in areas classified as urban, from World Bank Open Data.

What it does not

Every country defines "urban" differently. A settlement classed as urban in one country would be rural in another, so cross-country comparison is indicative rather than exact.

The bottom of the table

Liechtenstein 15%

Samoa 18%

Malawi 18%

Sri Lanka 19%

Tonga 21%

Bars are scaled across the full observed range (15% to 100%), not to 100%, so the real spread is visible.

How the values are spread

Where the 194 countries fall

The range from 15% to 100% is split into 10 equal bands, and each bar counts the countries in one band.

Number of countries in each band of urban population share
Band	Countries	Including
15.0% to 23.5%	9	Ethiopia, South Sudan, Micronesia and 6 more
23.5% to 32.0%	12	Rwanda, Kenya, Burkina Faso and 9 more
32.0% to 40.5%	20	Bangladesh, Laos, Mozambique and 17 more
40.5% to 49.0%	15	Philippines, St Vincent and the Grenadines, DR Congo and 12 more
49.0% to 57.5%	17	British Virgin Islands, Liberia, Slovenia and 14 more
57.5% to 66.0%	27	Gambia, China, Tuvalu and 24 more
66.0% to 74.5%	27	Bulgaria, Dominica, Djibouti and 24 more
74.5% to 83.0%	25	South Korea, France, Canada and 22 more
83.0% to 91.5%	19	Lebanon, Curaçao, Denmark and 16 more
91.5% to 100.0%	23	Kuwait, Bahrain, Singapore and 20 more

How this is built: each band is one tenth of the gap between the lowest and highest value; a country is counted in the band its value falls in, and the top band includes the highest value. Countries with no comparable figure are left out. Chart drawn with Apache ECharts.

The full ranking

All 194 countries

Click any column heading to re-sort. Type to filter, or pick a region. Every country name links to its full profile.

194 countries shown

Urban population by country, ranked. Column headings re-sort the table.
Rank	Country	Urban population share	Region	Gen Alpha
#1	Kuwait	100%	Middle East & North Africa	917k
#2	Bahrain	100%	Middle East & North Africa	309k
#3	Singapore	100%	East Asia & Pacific	690k
#4	Nauru	100%	Oceania	5k
#5	Gibraltar	100%	Europe & Central Asia	7k
#6	Monaco	100%	Europe & Central Asia	5k
#7	Bermuda	100%	North America	9k
#8	Cayman Islands	100%	Latin America	12k
#9	Sint Maarten	100%	Latin America	7k
#10	Qatar	99%	Middle East & North Africa	476k
#11	San Marino	97%	Europe & Central Asia	4k
#12	Malta	96%	Middle East & North Africa	71k
#13	Uruguay	96%	Latin America	605k
#14	Luxembourg	95%	Europe & Central Asia	108k
#15	Iceland	94%	Europe & Central Asia	70k
#16	Puerto Rico	94%	Latin America	362k
#17	Turks and Caicos Islands	94%	Latin America	8k
#18	Jordan	93%	Middle East & North Africa	4m
#19	Netherlands	93%	Europe & Central Asia	3m
#20	Gabon	92%	Sub-Saharan Africa	959k
#21	Israel	92%	Middle East & North Africa	3m
#22	Japan	92%	East Asia & Pacific	14m
#23	Argentina	92%	Latin America	11m
#24	Lebanon	91%	Middle East & North Africa	2m
#25	Curaçao	91%	Latin America	27k
#26	Denmark	89%	Europe & Central Asia	937k
#27	Andorra	89%	Europe & Central Asia	10k
#28	Libya	88%	Middle East & North Africa	2m
#29	Belgium	88%	Europe & Central Asia	2m
#30	Sweden	88%	Europe & Central Asia	2m
#31	Brazil	88%	Latin America	44m
#32	Venezuela	88%	Latin America	7m
#33	Chile	88%	Latin America	4m
#34	Palestine	87%	Middle East & North Africa	2m
#35	New Zealand	87%	Oceania	1m
#36	United Arab Emirates	86%	Middle East & North Africa	2m
#37	Australia	86%	Oceania	5m
#38	Switzerland	86%	Europe & Central Asia	1m
#39	Saudi Arabia	85%	Middle East & North Africa	9m
#40	United Kingdom	84%	Europe & Central Asia	12m
#41	Norway	84%	Europe & Central Asia	900k
#42	United States	83%	North America	62m
#43	South Korea	82%	East Asia & Pacific	6m
#44	France	82%	Europe & Central Asia	12m
#45	Canada	82%	North America	6m
#46	Colombia	82%	Latin America	11m
#47	Spain	81%	Europe & Central Asia	6m
#48	Mexico	81%	North America	31m
#49	Bahamas	81%	Latin America	71k
#50	Costa Rica	80%	Latin America	947k
#51	Oman	79%	Middle East & North Africa	1m
#52	Marshall Islands	79%	Oceania	12k
#53	Palau	79%	Oceania	3k
#54	Greece	79%	Europe & Central Asia	1m
#55	Belarus	79%	Europe & Central Asia	1m
#56	Peru	79%	Latin America	8m
#57	Cape Verde	78%	Sub-Saharan Africa	131k
#58	Malaysia	78%	East Asia & Pacific	8m
#59	Germany	78%	Europe & Central Asia	12m
#60	Iran	77%	Middle East & North Africa	18m
#61	Turkey	77%	Middle East & North Africa	19m
#62	Cuba	77%	Latin America	2m
#63	Algeria	76%	Middle East & North Africa	14m
#64	El Salvador	76%	Latin America	2m
#65	Brunei	75%	East Asia & Pacific	97k
#66	Russia	75%	Europe & Central Asia	26m
#67	Finland	75%	Europe & Central Asia	806k
#68	Bulgaria	74%	Europe & Central Asia	960k
#69	Dominica	74%	Latin America	12k
#70	Djibouti	73%	Middle East & North Africa	345k
#71	Czechia	73%	Europe & Central Asia	2m
#72	Dominican Republic	73%	Latin America	3m
#73	Equatorial Guinea	72%	Sub-Saharan Africa	736k
#74	Syria	72%	Middle East & North Africa	8m
#75	Italy	72%	Europe & Central Asia	7m
#76	Iraq	71%	Middle East & North Africa	16m
#77	Tunisia	71%	Middle East & North Africa	3m
#78	Mongolia	71%	East Asia & Pacific	1m
#79	Hungary	71%	Europe & Central Asia	1m
#80	Estonia	71%	Europe & Central Asia	203k
#81	Bolivia	71%	Latin America	3m
#82	Ukraine	70%	Europe & Central Asia	6m
#83	Austria	70%	Europe & Central Asia	1m
#84	Paraguay	70%	Latin America	2m
#85	São Tomé and Príncipe	69%	Sub-Saharan Africa	92k
#86	Lithuania	69%	Europe & Central Asia	406k
#87	Latvia	69%	Europe & Central Asia	279k
#88	South Africa	68%	Sub-Saharan Africa	17m
#89	Angola	68%	Sub-Saharan Africa	15m
#90	Cyprus	67%	Europe & Central Asia	222k
#91	Armenia	66%	Europe & Central Asia	557k
#92	Montenegro	66%	Europe & Central Asia	112k
#93	Panama	66%	Latin America	1m
#94	Suriname	66%	Latin America	163k
#95	Gambia	65%	Sub-Saharan Africa	1m
#96	China	65%	East Asia & Pacific	230m
#97	Tuvalu	65%	Oceania	3k
#98	Ecuador	65%	Latin America	4m
#99	Republic of the Congo	64%	Sub-Saharan Africa	3m
#100	North Korea	64%	East Asia & Pacific	5m
#101	Ireland	64%	Europe & Central Asia	1m
#102	Morocco	63%	Middle East & North Africa	10m
#103	Kiribati	63%	Oceania	48k
#104	Serbia	63%	Europe & Central Asia	947k
#105	North Macedonia	63%	Europe & Central Asia	298k
#106	Kazakhstan	62%	Europe & Central Asia	6m
#107	Aruba	62%	Latin America	18k
#108	Mauritania	61%	Sub-Saharan Africa	2m
#109	Portugal	61%	Europe & Central Asia	1m
#110	Georgia	61%	Europe & Central Asia	780k
#111	Poland	60%	Europe & Central Asia	6m
#112	Barbados	60%	Latin America	48k
#113	Ghana	59%	Sub-Saharan Africa	12m
#114	Cameroon	59%	Sub-Saharan Africa	12m
#115	Azerbaijan	59%	Europe & Central Asia	2m
#116	Albania	59%	Europe & Central Asia	457k
#117	Honduras	59%	Latin America	3m
#118	Nicaragua	59%	Latin America	2m
#119	Jamaica	59%	Latin America	518k
#120	Indonesia	58%	East Asia & Pacific	68m
#121	Croatia	58%	Europe & Central Asia	524k
#122	British Virgin Islands	57%	Latin America	6k
#123	Liberia	56%	Sub-Saharan Africa	2m
#124	Slovenia	56%	Europe & Central Asia	306k
#125	Haiti	56%	Latin America	4m
#126	Somalia	55%	Sub-Saharan Africa	10m
#127	Nigeria	54%	Sub-Saharan Africa	95m
#128	Côte d'Ivoire	54%	Sub-Saharan Africa	12m
#129	Trinidad and Tobago	54%	Latin America	265k
#130	Benin	53%	Sub-Saharan Africa	6m
#131	Thailand	53%	East Asia & Pacific	11m
#132	Slovakia	53%	Europe & Central Asia	849k
#133	Bosnia and Herzegovina	53%	Europe & Central Asia	400k
#134	Guatemala	53%	Latin America	6m
#135	Romania	52%	Europe & Central Asia	3m
#136	Namibia	51%	Sub-Saharan Africa	1m
#137	Uzbekistan	51%	Europe & Central Asia	12m
#138	Senegal	50%	Sub-Saharan Africa	7m
#139	Philippines	48%	East Asia & Pacific	32m
#140	St Vincent and the Grenadines	48%	Latin America	21k
#141	DR Congo	47%	Sub-Saharan Africa	44m
#142	Guinea-Bissau	47%	Sub-Saharan Africa	881k
#143	Turkmenistan	47%	Europe & Central Asia	2m
#144	Zambia	46%	Sub-Saharan Africa	9m
#145	Sierra Leone	46%	Sub-Saharan Africa	3m
#146	Central African Republic	45%	Sub-Saharan Africa	3m
#147	Lesotho	45%	Sub-Saharan Africa	815k
#148	Seychelles	45%	Sub-Saharan Africa	27k
#149	Togo	44%	Sub-Saharan Africa	4m
#150	Moldova	44%	Europe & Central Asia	578k
#151	Egypt	43%	Middle East & North Africa	34m
#152	Maldives	43%	South Asia	101k
#153	Belize	42%	Latin America	113k
#154	Bangladesh	40%	South Asia	44m
#155	Laos	40%	East Asia & Pacific	2m
#156	Mozambique	39%	Sub-Saharan Africa	14m
#157	Guinea	39%	Sub-Saharan Africa	6m
#158	Mauritius	39%	Sub-Saharan Africa	184k
#159	Vietnam	39%	East Asia & Pacific	23m
#160	Pakistan	38%	South Asia	80m
#161	Tanzania	37%	Sub-Saharan Africa	28m
#162	Sudan	37%	Sub-Saharan Africa	19m
#163	Yemen	37%	Middle East & North Africa	18m
#164	Grenada	37%	Latin America	22k
#165	India	36%	South Asia	327m
#166	Eritrea	35%	Sub-Saharan Africa	1m
#167	Kyrgyzstan	35%	Europe & Central Asia	2m
#168	Comoros	34%	Sub-Saharan Africa	331k
#169	Madagascar	33%	Sub-Saharan Africa	13m
#170	Mali	32%	Sub-Saharan Africa	12m
#171	Zimbabwe	32%	Sub-Saharan Africa	7m
#172	Myanmar	32%	East Asia & Pacific	13m
#173	St Kitts and Nevis	32%	Latin America	9k
#174	Rwanda	31%	Sub-Saharan Africa	6m
#175	Kenya	29%	Sub-Saharan Africa	19m
#176	Burkina Faso	29%	Sub-Saharan Africa	10m
#177	Timor-Leste	29%	East Asia & Pacific	476k
#178	St Lucia	29%	Latin America	31k
#179	Chad	28%	Sub-Saharan Africa	10m
#180	Eswatini	27%	Sub-Saharan Africa	419k
#181	Afghanistan	27%	Middle East & North Africa	17m
#182	Uganda	26%	Sub-Saharan Africa	20m
#183	Tajikistan	26%	Europe & Central Asia	4m
#184	Guyana	26%	Latin America	243k
#185	Antigua and Barbuda	24%	Latin America	17k
#186	Ethiopia	23%	Sub-Saharan Africa	48m
#187	South Sudan	22%	Sub-Saharan Africa	5m
#188	Micronesia	22%	Oceania	36k
#189	Nepal	21%	South Asia	8m
#190	Tonga	21%	Oceania	36k
#191	Sri Lanka	19%	South Asia	4m
#192	Malawi	18%	Sub-Saharan Africa	9m
#193	Samoa	18%	Oceania	84k
#194	Liechtenstein	15%	Europe & Central Asia	6k

Reading the table

Generation Alpha is the first majority-urban generation in human history, and Generation Beta will be more urban still. This table is where that happens.

The Netherlands leads at 93%, with Japan and Argentina at 92%. At the other end, Sri Lanka is 19% urban, Nepal 21% and Ethiopia 23% — countries where the large majority of childhoods are still rural.

Angola is the entry that breaks the usual pattern. It is 68% urban with a fertility rate above 5, a combination that almost never occurs, because urbanisation normally drives fertility down hard. It is the clearest reminder in this dataset that the standard demographic transition model describes a tendency, not a law.

For anyone designing for children, urbanisation changes almost everything: distance to school, independent mobility, outdoor time, housing size, and whether a child's peer group is a street or a screen.

Run the numbers yourself

Tools that use this data

Urbanisation vs Fertility

The relationship between how urban a country is and how many children it has,…

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Population Density Calculator

People per square kilometre and square metres per person — the number that decides…

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Frequently asked

Which country is the most urban?

The Netherlands, at about 93% of the population living in urban areas, with Japan and Argentina close behind at 92%.

Which country is the least urban?

Sri Lanka, at about 19% urban — roughly four in five Sri Lankans live rurally.

What share of the world is urban?

About 58%, and rising. Generation Alpha is the first majority-urban generation in history.

How many countries are in this table?

This table ranks 194 countries with a comparable figure, out of the 194 countries profiled on AlphaBetaMinds. The countries in this table hold about 98% of the world population.

Can I reuse this data?

Yes, free of charge and commercially, with a credit to AlphaBetaMinds and a link to this page. The full dataset is also available as plain text at https://alphabetaminds.com/llms-countries.txt.

Other data tables

Generation Alpha population Generation Alpha share of population Projected Generation Beta births Under-15 population share Total fertility rate Median age Births per day School starting age Compulsory years of schooling Secondary school completion Daily screen time, ages 8–12 Internet use Cost of raising a child to 18 Life expectancy at birth Under-15 population change to 2040 Youth dependency ratio

Cite this table

AlphaBetaMinds (2026). Urban population by country. Retrieved from https://alphabetaminds.com/data/urban-population-by-country

Download the full dataset (CSV)

Sources: UN World Population Prospects, World Bank Open Data, UNESCO Institute for Statistics, ITU. Figures are 2025–2026 estimates. Method on our methodology page.