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Data for 1953

Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 1953

1953, 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), 1953 covers 222 countries on 3 measures. Vatican City is highest, at 100.000; 78 countries share the lowest reading, 0.000. The middle country reads 10.266. Against 1952, 143 values changed (133 up, 10 down), the same countries are covered.

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Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation) · Data for 1953

HighestVatican City

100.000

Lowest78 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), 1953, 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), 1953: every country, as published by UN DESA Population Division.
Vatican CityVATSouthern Europe100.0000.0000.000
MacauMACEastern Asia90.1059.2660.629
Hong KongHKGEastern Asia88.8788.8712.250
SingaporeSGPSouth-eastern Asia86.87912.8190.302
MaltaMLTSouthern Europe65.81324.8339.354
United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe55.59528.60115.805
UruguayURYSouth America46.38734.30719.306
JapanJPNEastern Asia46.01140.86713.123
TaiwanTWNEastern Asia43.92842.74313.329
BarbadosBRBCaribbean42.73544.44912.816
Republic of the CongoCOGMiddle Africa42.48330.81626.700
ArgentinaARGSouth America42.27031.92525.805
JamaicaJAMCaribbean42.10324.50833.388
KuwaitKWTWestern Asia39.96147.91212.127
LebanonLBNWestern Asia38.64840.77720.576
NetherlandsNLDWestern Europe37.80439.51122.685
South KoreaKOREastern Asia35.97736.68227.341
Trinidad and TobagoTTOCaribbean35.51445.00119.486
MauritiusMUSEastern Africa34.48845.88619.626
North KoreaPRKEastern Asia34.34748.34717.306
GreeceGRCSouthern Europe33.90629.85336.241
RussiaRUSEastern Europe33.20039.16427.636
UkraineUKREastern Europe32.59834.76332.640
ArmeniaARMWestern Asia32.51527.89339.592
CubaCUBCaribbean32.01849.74218.240

02In 1953

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. Macau90.105
  3. Hong Kong88.878
  4. Singapore86.879
  5. Malta65.813

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 10.266. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

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

    Highest2 share it

    Lowest17 share it

    Middle country: 36.010

  • Population in rural areas (%)

    Highest16 share it

    Lowest3 share it

    Middle country: 48.996

031952 → 1953

Since 1952

  • +0 / −0countries joined / left
  • 143values changed, of 222 in both
  • 133 · 10rose · fell
  • 79unchanged

Rose most

Fell most

04Caveats

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 1953.

  • 145 distinct values among 222

    Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 78 countries share 0.000. Countries sharing a value share a position too.

  • Nothing missing

    Every one of the 222 countries has every column.

05The 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 (1953). Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 1953 [data set], describing 1953. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/population-in-cities/1953

0676 held

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