Which country has the highest Rural population (% of total population)?

In 2024, Liechtenstein had the highest Rural population (% of total population) of any country with reported data from the World Bank.

Which country has the lowest Rural population (% of total population)?

In 2024, Cayman Islands had the lowest Rural population (% of total population) among countries with reported data.

How many countries report Rural population (% of total population)?

The World Bank tracks Rural population (% of total population) for 217 countries.

Health & Population

Rural population (% of total population)

Name: Rural population (% of total population) by Country
Creator: World Bank
License: https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/public-licenses#cc-by

Rural population refers to people living in rural areas as defined by national statistical offices. It is calculated as the difference between total population and urban population.

World Bank code: SP.RUR.TOTL.ZS • Data available for 217 countries • Latest year: 2024

In 2024, Liechtenstein led Rural population (% of total population) at 85.34.

The world median across 217 reporting countries was 36.11.

What this measures: Rural population refers to people living in rural areas as defined by national statistical offices. It is calculated as the difference between total population and urban population.

How "Health & Population" indicators are measured

Health and population indicators come from national vital-registration systems, demographic and health surveys, and modeling by the UN Population Division and WHO. Mortality and morbidity estimates are often modeled rather than directly observed in lower-capacity statistical systems, which means some figures are interpolations between survey years. Life expectancy is a "period" measure based on current age-specific mortality, not a forecast of how long someone born today will actually live.

Distribution — 2024

Reporting: 217 countries
Median: 36.11
Mean: 37.13
25th percentile: 19.06
75th percentile: 56.19
Range: 0.00 – 85.34

World at a Glance — 2024

Every reporting country, grouped by region, shaded by value (quintile).

Lighter = lower value · Darker = higher value. Hover a cell to see the country and value.

Highest Values — 2024

#	Country	Rural population (% of total population)
1	Liechtenstein Europe & Central Asia	85.34
2	Papua New Guinea East Asia & Pacific	84.59
3	Malawi Sub-Saharan Africa	82.73
4	Samoa East Asia & Pacific	82.50
5	Niger Sub-Saharan Africa	81.95
6	Sri Lanka South Asia	79.70
7	Tonga East Asia & Pacific	78.85
8	South Sudan Sub-Saharan Africa	78.62
9	Vanuatu East Asia & Pacific	77.71
10	Micronesia, Fed. Sts. East Asia & Pacific	77.54

Looking for a specific country? Only the top and bottom 10 appear here. See where every country ranks for Rural population (% of total population).

View complete rankings →

Biggest Movers — Year over Year

Largest increases

American Samoa +2.3%
Oman +0.6%
Belize +0.3%
Syrian Arab Republic +0.3%
Eritrea +0.2%

Largest decreases

Netherlands -6.8%
Qatar -5.4%
Turks and Caicos Islands -3.9%
Jordan -3.7%
Cabo Verde -3.6%

By Income Group — Average

Income group	Countries	Mean
High income	86	22.55
Upper middle income	54	35.99
Lower middle income	50	51.05
Low income	25	61.40
Not classified	2	43.55

By Region — Average

Region	Countries	Mean
East Asia & Pacific	37	37.24
Europe & Central Asia	58	31.73
Latin America & Caribbean	42	30.35
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan	23	24.36
North America	3	12.39
South Asia	6	60.05
Sub-Saharan Africa	48	54.30

Lowest Values — 2024

#	Country	Rural population (% of total population)
1	Cayman Islands	0.00
2	Monaco	0.00
3	Singapore	0.00
4	Macao SAR, China	0.00
5	Sint Maarten (Dutch part)	0.00
6	Bahrain	0.00
7	St. Martin (French part)	0.00
8	Hong Kong SAR, China	0.00
9	Kuwait	0.00
10	Bermuda	0.00

Download full dataset: CSV JSON

Source: World Bank Open Data (SP.RUR.TOTL.ZS), CC BY 4.0. Rankings show countries with available data for 2024.