Singapore is the only country in the world with a 100-per-cent urban population



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Urban population growth from now to 2030
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and their mayors 2011

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Ranking of countries
by urban population

Proportion of urban residents

7 August 2012: Urbanisation has already surpassed the 90-per-cent mark, not only in city states like Singapore and Kuwait, but also in Belgium, Venezuela, Uruguay, Argentina, Israel and the UK. In the US, where for the past 100 years the majority of people have been living in cities, more than 82 per cent of the total population now reside in urban areas. Other countries where the urban population stands at above 80 per cent include Australia, Chile, Brazil, Sweden and South Korea.

2017: LARGEST CITIES IN THE
WORLD AND THEIR MAYORS


Table 1: Urbanisation in selected countries between 1950 and 2030
Table 2: Urban population in 122 countries together with their largest cities
Table 3: Countries with the largest number of people living in urban areas
Table 4: Countries with the highest proportion of people living in urban areas

The urban population of China accounts for close to 45 per cent of the country’s total number of people, while in India the corresponding figure is just over 30 per cent. With only eleven per cent of its citizens living in towns, Burundi is the least urbanised country in the world.

Countries with the highest
proportions of urban residents

Rank
Country
Total population (millions)
Urban population (millions)
Urban population as percentage of total (2010)
Urban population as percentage of total (2030 estimate)
1
Singapore
5.1m
5.1m
100.0
100.0
2
Kuwait
2.7m
2.7m
98.4
98.7
3
Belgium
10.9m
10.6m
97.4
97.8
4
Qatar
1.8m
1.7m
95.8
96.9
5
Venezuela
28.8m
27.1m
94.0
97.1
6
Uruguay
3.4m
3.1m
92.5
94.3
7
Argentina
40.4m
37.3m
92.4
93.2
8
Israel
7.6m
7.0m
91.7
93.0
9
UK
62.2m
56.1m
90.1
92.2
10
Australia
22.3m
19.9m
89.1
91.9
11
Chile
17.1m
15.2m
89.0
92.3
12
Bahrain
1.3m
1.1m
88.6
98.9
13
Denmark
5.5m
4.8m
87.2
89.1
14
Lebanon
4.2m
3.7m
87.2
90.0
15
New Zealand
4.4m
3.8m
86.8
89.5
16
Brazil
194.9m
168.6m
86.5
91.1
17
Sweden
9.4m
7.9m
84.7
87.5
18
Saudi Arabia
27.4m
22.9m
83.6
86.2
19
Netherlands
16.6m
13.8m
82.9
88.6
20
USA
309.1m
254.3m
82.3
87.0
21
South Korea
48.9m
40.0m
81.9
86.3
22
Canada
34.1m
27.5m
80.6
84.4
23
Jordan
6.0m
4.7m
78.5
88.5
24
United Arab Emirates
7.5m
5.9m
78.0
80.5
25
Libya
6.4m
5.0m
77.9
90.0
26
France
64.9m
50.5m
77.8
82.9
27
Mexico
113.4m
88.2m
77.8
82.8
28
Norway
4.9m
3.8m
77.6
81.9
29
Spain
46.1m
35.7m
77.4
81.9
30
Cuba
11.3m
8.5m
75.7
77.3
31
Colombia
46.3m
34.8m
75.1
80.3
32
Panama
3.5m
2.6m
74.8
83.6
33
Belarus
9.5m
7.1m
74.3
81.7
34
Germany
81.7m
60.3m
73.8
80.0
35
Switzerland
7.8m
5.8m
73.6
83.1
36
Czech Republic
10.5m
7.7m
73.5
78.0
37
Russia
141.8m
103.2m
72.8
75.7
38
Malaysia
28.4m
20.5m
72.2
81.9
39
Bulgaria
7.5m
5.4m
71.7
77.8
40
Oman
2.8m
2.0m
71.7
76.4
41
Peru
29.1m
20.8m
71.6
79.3
42
Dominican Republic
9.9m
7.0m
70.5
80.0
43
Turkey
72.8m
50.6m
69.6
77.7
44
Iran
74.0m
51.4m
69.5
77.9
45
Italy
60.5m
41.4m
68.4
74.6
46
Hungary
10.0m
6.8m
68.3
76.1
47
Ukraine
45.9m
31.2m
68.1
75.2
48
Austria
8.4m
5.7m
67.6
73.1
49
Tunisia
10.5m
7.1m
67.3
75.1
50
Ecuador
14.5m
9.7m
66.9
74.2
51
Japan
127.5m
85.1m
66.8
73.7
52
Algeria
35.5m
23.6m
66.5
76.2
53
Bolivia
9.9m
6.6m
66.5
75.2
54
Iraq
32.0m
21.3m
66.4
71.3
55
Philippines
93.3m
61.9m
66.4
76.7
56
Costa Rica
4.7m
3.0m
64.3
73.8
57
Finland
5.4m
3.4m
63.9
68.8
58
Armenia
3.1m
2.0m
63.7
69.1
59
North Korea
24.3m
15.4m
63.4
72.4
60
Ireland
4.5m
2.8m
61.9
70.4
61
South Africa
50.0m
30.8m
61.7
71.3
62
Liberia
4.0m
2.5m
61.5
31.3
63
Paraguay
6.5m
4.0m
61.5
71.9
64
Greece
11.3m
6.9m
61.4
67.4
65
El Salvador
6.2m
3.8m
61.3
69.8
66
Poland
38.2m
23.4m
61.2
70.0
67
Botswana
2.0m
1.2m
61.1
72.7
68
Portugal
10.6m
6.5m
60.7
71.4
69
Angola
19.1m
11.2m
58.5
68.2
70
Kazakhstan
16.3m
9.5m
58.5
66.9
71
Cameroon
19.6m
11.4m
58.4
71.5
72
Croatia
4.4m
2.6m
57.8
66.5
73
Nicaragua
5.8m
3.3m
57.3
67.9
74
Slovakia
5.4m
3.1m
56.8
64.7
75
Morocco
32.0m
18.1m
56.7
72.7
76
Syria
20.4m
11.2m
54.9
61.0
77
Romania
21.4m
11.7m
54.6
63.1
78
Indonesia
239.9m
128.8m
53.7
68.9
79
Jamaica
2.7m
1.5m
53.7
64.3
80
Georgia
4.5m
2.4m
52.9
60.4
81
Serbia
7.3m
3.8m
52.4
62.8
82
Azerbaijan
9.0m
4.7m
52.2
59.2
83
Ghana
24.4m
12.6m
51.5
64.8
84
Cote d'Ivoire
19.7m
9.9m
50.1
n/a
85
Nigeria
158.4m
78.9m
49.8
66.0
86
Haiti
10.0m
5.0m
49.6
56.0
87
Guatemala
14.4m
7.1m
49.5
60.6
88
Honduras
7.6m
3.7m
48.8
60.3
89
Bosnia-Herzegovina
3.8m
1.8m
48.6
61.7
90
Albania
3.2m
1.5m
48.0
62.7
91
China
1,338.3m
600.9m
44.9
60.3
92
Senegal
12.4m
5.3m
42.9
53.2
93
Egypt
81.1m
34.7m
42.8
53.9
94
Mauritania
3.5m
1.4m
41.4
51.7
95
Mozambique
23.4m
9.0m
38.4
53.7
96
Sierra Leone
5.9m
2.3m
38.4
59.5
97
Zimbabwe
15.5m
5.9m
38.3
50.7
98
Pakistan
173.6m
64.2m
37.0
49.8
99
Uzbekistan
28.2m
10.4m
36.9
46.1
100
Zambia
12.9m
4.6m
35.7
44.7
101
Congo, Dem Republic
66.0m
23.2m
35.2
49.2
102
Thailand
69.1m
23.5m
34.0
45.8
103
Myanmar (Burma)
48.0m
16.3m
33.9
48.4
104
Mali
15.4m
5.1m
33.3
47.4
105
Yemen
24.1m
7.6m
31.8
41.7
106
Madagascar
20.7m
6.3m
30.2
39.3
107
India
1,170.9
352.5m
30.1
40.7
108
Vietnam
86.9m
25.0m
28.8
41.8
109
Bangladesh
148.7m
41.8m
28.1
39.9
110
Chad
11.2m
3.1m
27.6
41.2
111
Tanzania
44.8m
11.8m
26.4
38.7
112
Afghanistan
34.4m
8.5m
24.8
36.3
113
Cambodia
14.1m
3.2m
22.8
37.0
114
Kenya
40.5m
9.0m
22.2
33.0
115
Eritrea
5.3m
1.1m
21.6
34.4
116
Burkina Faso
16.5m
3.4m
20.4
32.5
117
Nepal
30.0m
5.5m
18.2
30.6
118
Ethiopia
82.9m
14.6m
17.6
27.1
119
Niger
15.5m
2.6m
16.7
27.0
120
Sri Lanka
20.9m
3.1m
15.1
21.4
121
Uganda
33.4m
4.4m
13.3
20.7
122
Burundi
8.4m
0.9m
11.0
20.8
Data source: World Bank

Table 1: Urbanisation in selected countries between 1950 and 2030
Table 2: Urban population in 122 countries together with their largest cities
Table 3: Countries with the largest number of people living in urban areas





World Mayor 2023