01 / THE URBAN CENTURY
The shape of
city life.
How much of each country lives in urban areas—and how has that changed? Shift the year, change the view, then choose a country to follow its path.
of people live in urban areas
World Bank world aggregate
Urban share of population
170 countries with data03 / A CLOSER LOOK
The spread at a glance.
READING THE DATA
What counts as urban?
The World Bank’s urban population share uses national definitions of urban areas, so comparisons across countries need care. Rural share is calculated as 100 minus urban share. “Shift since 2000” is the difference in percentage points between a selected year and 2000; it is not population growth.
This snapshot covers 170 countries shown on the Natural Earth 110m map, for 2000–2024. Small territories absent from that map are not shown. Pale areas have no matching data. The line chart includes earlier available years for context.