Which country has the highest Urban land area (sq. km)?

In 2015, China had the highest Urban land area (sq. km) of any country with reported data from the World Bank.

Which country has the lowest Urban land area (sq. km)?

In 2015, Tuvalu had the lowest Urban land area (sq. km) among countries with reported data.

How many countries report Urban land area (sq. km)?

The World Bank tracks Urban land area (sq. km) for 215 countries.

Agriculture

Urban land area (sq. km)

Name: Urban land area (sq. km) by Country
Creator: World Bank
License: https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/public-licenses#cc-by

Urban land area in square kilometers, based on a combination of population counts (persons), settlement points, and the presence of nighttime lights. Areas are defined as urban where contiguous lighted cells from the nighttime lights or approximated urban extents based on buffered settlement points for which the total population is greater than 5,000 persons.

World Bank code: AG.LND.TOTL.UR.K2 • Data available for 215 countries • Latest year: 2015

In 2015, China led Urban land area (sq. km) at 522,345.19.

The world median across 215 reporting countries was 1,500.49.

What this measures: Urban land area in square kilometers, based on a combination of population counts (persons), settlement points, and the presence of nighttime lights. Areas are defined as urban where contiguous lighted cells from the nighttime lights or approximated urban extents based on buffered settlement points for which the total population is greater than 5,000 persons.

How "Agriculture" indicators are measured

Agricultural indicators are compiled by the FAO and national agriculture ministries. Many are reported as percentages (share of land, share of GDP, share of employment) so per-capita normalization is rarely needed. Weather-driven variability means single-year readings can be misleading — a 5-year rolling average is often more meaningful than a single point.

Distribution — 2015

Reporting: 215 countries
Median: 1,500.49
Mean: 8,839.60
25th percentile: 177.92
75th percentile: 3,789.64
Range: 0.00 – 522,345.19

World at a Glance — 2015

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 — 2015

#	Country	Urban land area (sq. km)
1	China East Asia & Pacific	522,345.19
2	United States North America	186,573.45
3	India South Asia	171,839.18
4	Indonesia East Asia & Pacific	67,755.13
5	Bangladesh South Asia	56,970.02
6	Japan East Asia & Pacific	53,452.06
7	Russian Federation Europe & Central Asia	52,886.95
8	Brazil Latin America & Caribbean	45,853.34
9	Pakistan Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan	39,082.02
10	Germany Europe & Central Asia	36,996.44

Looking for a specific country? Only the top and bottom 10 appear here. See where every country ranks for Urban land area (sq. km).

View complete rankings →

By Income Group — Average

Income group	Countries	Mean
High income	85	6,600.86
Upper middle income	53	15,817.27
Lower middle income	50	8,835.29
Low income	25	1,894.09
Not classified	2	6,004.82

By Region — Average

Region	Countries	Mean
East Asia & Pacific	37	20,408.32
Europe & Central Asia	56	5,853.90
Latin America & Caribbean	42	3,166.89
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan	23	5,801.21
North America	3	66,866.18
South Asia	6	39,253.62
Sub-Saharan Africa	48	2,396.48

Lowest Values — 2015

#	Country	Urban land area (sq. km)
1	Tuvalu	0.00
2	Faroe Islands	0.00
3	Greenland	2.58
4	Monaco	2.78
5	Palau	4.89
6	Kiribati	5.19
7	Nauru	6.98
8	Gibraltar	7.40
9	Micronesia, Fed. Sts.	7.52
10	Marshall Islands	8.62

Download full dataset: CSV JSON

Source: World Bank Open Data (AG.LND.TOTL.UR.K2), CC BY 4.0. Rankings show countries with available data for 2015.