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Data for 1968

Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 1968

1968, 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), 1968 covers 222 countries on 3 measures. 2 countries share the highest reading, 100.000; 60 countries share the lowest reading, 0.000. The middle country reads 17.389. Against 1967, 160 values changed (154 up, 6 down), the same countries are covered.

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Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation) · Data for 1968

Highest2 countries share it

100.000

Lowest60 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), 1968, 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), 1968: every country, as published by UN DESA Population Division.
GibraltarGIBSouthern Europe100.0000.0000.000
Vatican CityVATSouthern Europe100.0000.0000.000
SingaporeSGPSouth-eastern Asia94.7085.1130.179
MacauMACEastern Asia93.2816.1460.573
Hong KongHKGEastern Asia91.4837.2481.268
KuwaitKWTWestern Asia70.22223.0026.776
MaltaMLTSouthern Europe70.00921.0128.980
Republic of the CongoCOGMiddle Africa61.87218.00320.125
JapanJPNEastern Asia59.21729.57611.207
TaiwanTWNEastern Asia55.63436.0798.287
United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe54.70330.13615.161
South KoreaKOREastern Asia53.58427.60618.810
LebanonLBNWestern Asia51.15934.51314.328
North KoreaPRKEastern Asia51.08335.08313.834
UruguayURYSouth America51.08332.33016.587
ArgentinaARGSouth America50.02728.54421.430
JamaicaJAMCaribbean49.09121.78229.126
BarbadosBRBCaribbean46.76341.54011.697
Trinidad and TobagoTTOCaribbean45.55839.69414.748
MauritiusMUSEastern Africa45.11940.16514.715
JordanJORWestern Asia44.58024.18031.240
VenezuelaVENSouth America43.50735.51820.976
ColombiaCOLSouth America43.32725.26931.403
IndonesiaIDNSouth-eastern Asia42.39536.69320.912
RussiaRUSEastern Europe41.92534.34823.728

02In 1968

At either end

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

Highest

  1. Gibraltarshared100.000
  2. Vatican Cityshared100.000
  3. Singapore94.708
  4. Macau93.281
  5. Hong Kong91.483

Lowest

  1. Samoashared0.000
  2. Vanuatushared0.000
  3. United States Virgin Islandsshared0.000
  4. British Virgin Islandsshared0.000
  5. Saint Vincent and the Grenadinesshared0.000

Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score. The middle country reads 17.389. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

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

    HighestMonaco100.000

    Lowest12 share it

    Middle country: 34.684

  • Population in rural areas (%)

    Highest10 share it

    Lowest3 share it

    Middle country: 41.939

031967 → 1968

Since 1967

  • +0 / −0countries joined / left
  • 160values changed, of 222 in both
  • 154 · 6rose · fell
  • 62unchanged

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 1968.

  • 161 distinct values among 222

    Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 60 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 (1968). Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 1968 [data set], describing 1968. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/population-in-cities/1968

0676 held

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