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Data for 1950

Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 1950

1950, as UN DESA Population Division’s 2025 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

The share of a country's people living in cities, measured the same way everywhere: a city is a dense, continuous cluster of at least 50,000 people, found on population grids built from census and satellite data rather than on administrative maps. It is the UN's comparable answer to how urban a country is, which national definitions cannot give.

Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 1950 covers 222 countries on 3 measures. Vatican City is highest, at 100.000; 83 countries share the lowest reading, 0.000. The middle country reads 9.148.

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Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation) · Data for 1950

HighestVatican City

100.000

Lowest83 countries share it

0.000

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the highest end.

01Values only

The table

Every country and every column of Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 1950, as published. The file carries values only, so no position is shown. “=” marks a shared position.

Showing 25 of 222 countries · select a heading to sort

Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 1950: every country, as published by UN DESA Population Division.
Vatican CityVATSouthern Europe100.0000.0000.000
MacauMACEastern Asia89.12310.2710.606
Hong KongHKGEastern Asia86.15211.2102.638
SingaporeSGPSouth-eastern Asia85.50714.1360.357
MaltaMLTSouthern Europe63.94526.2099.846
United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe55.72328.40115.876
UruguayURYSouth America46.52333.59719.880
JapanJPNEastern Asia43.65142.58413.764
Republic of the CongoCOGMiddle Africa41.88030.14727.973
BarbadosBRBCaribbean41.75144.99413.255
ArgentinaARGSouth America40.71032.33526.955
TaiwanTWNEastern Asia40.12345.18114.697
NetherlandsNLDWestern Europe37.36839.30523.327
JamaicaJAMCaribbean36.09028.94834.962
LebanonLBNWestern Asia35.65542.24022.105
North KoreaPRKEastern Asia35.34948.13716.514
KuwaitKWTWestern Asia34.62252.57212.806
Trinidad and TobagoTTOCaribbean33.54545.59620.859
South KoreaKOREastern Asia33.47037.60328.927
MauritiusMUSEastern Africa32.85746.12121.022
GreeceGRCSouthern Europe32.53330.62236.845
RussiaRUSEastern Europe31.93439.39328.673
AustriaAUTWestern Europe31.30017.85750.843
IrelandIRLNorthern Europe31.05122.68546.264
UkraineUKREastern Europe30.97935.22833.793

02In 1950

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline, then the highest and lowest on each other measure.

Highest

  1. Vatican City100.000
  2. Macau89.123
  3. Hong Kong86.152
  4. Singapore85.507
  5. Malta63.945

Lowest

  1. Zambiashared0.000
  2. Kosovoshared0.000
  3. Samoashared0.000
  4. Vanuatushared0.000
  5. United States Virgin Islandsshared0.000

Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score. The middle country reads 9.148. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

  • Population in towns and semi-dense areas (%)

    Highest2 share it

    Lowest19 share it

    Middle country: 35.573

  • Population in rural areas (%)

    Highest18 share it

    Lowest3 share it

    Middle country: 50.143

03Caveats

Read before you use

Using the series

  • One year of the 2025 release

    Every year in this series comes from UN DESA Population Division’s 2025 release, recalculated on one method, so a change from one year to the next is not a revision. It can differ from what was first published for 1950.

  • 140 distinct values among 222

    Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 83 countries share 0.000. Countries sharing a value share a position too.

  • Nothing missing

    Every one of the 222 countries has every column.

04The files

Download and cite

Licence in full

What this site changed: Reshaped to one row per country, with its ISO code; no value recalculated, rescaled or rounded. In full

Licence: CC BY 3.0 IGO · what it allows, in plain words

Cite this edition

UN DESA Population Division (1950). Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 1950 [data set], describing 1950. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/population-in-cities/1950

0576 held

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