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Data for 2006

Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 2006

2006, 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), 2006 covers 222 countries on 3 measures. 3 countries share the highest reading, 100.00; 39 countries share the lowest reading, 0.00. The middle country reads 32.62. Against 2005, 180 values changed (140 up, 40 down), the same countries are covered.

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Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation) · Data for 2006

Highest3 countries share it

100.00

Lowest39 countries share it

0.00

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), 2006, 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), 2006: every country, as published by UN DESA Population Division.
GibraltarGIBSouthern Europe100.000.0000.000
MonacoMCOWestern Europe100.000.0000.000
Vatican CityVATSouthern Europe100.000.0000.000
SingaporeSGPSouth-eastern Asia99.700.2320.071
MacauMACEastern Asia99.070.8320.099
Hong KongHKGEastern Asia95.953.5470.499
BahrainBHRWestern Asia89.198.8122.001
KuwaitKWTWestern Asia85.4510.0234.532
DjiboutiDJIEastern Africa76.2914.3489.361
TaiwanTWNEastern Asia76.1418.6745.187
South KoreaKOREastern Asia74.9714.51210.520
Republic of the CongoCOGMiddle Africa69.5016.75213.753
JapanJPNEastern Asia68.3822.7008.920
MaltaMLTSouthern Europe66.4927.5885.926
United Arab EmiratesAREWestern Asia65.0124.63510.354
JordanJORWestern Asia64.4625.14510.394
PalestinePSEWestern Asia64.3626.7788.863
VenezuelaVENSouth America62.5325.72711.740
ChileCHLSouth America62.4016.78820.815
North KoreaPRKEastern Asia62.2524.83612.913
IsraelISRWestern Asia62.1630.1317.705
ArgentinaARGSouth America61.7922.77715.433
SomaliaSOMEastern Africa61.4719.08719.439
QatarQATWestern Asia60.5029.34710.155
EgyptEGYNorthern Africa59.6736.4813.848

02In 2006

At either end

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

Highest

  1. Gibraltarshared100.00
  2. Monacoshared100.00
  3. Vatican Cityshared100.00
  4. Singapore99.70
  5. Macau99.07

Lowest

  1. Samoashared0.00
  2. Vanuatushared0.00
  3. United States Virgin Islandsshared0.00
  4. British Virgin Islandsshared0.00
  5. Saint Vincent and the Grenadinesshared0.00

Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score. The middle country reads 32.62. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

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

    HighestBermuda98.486

    Lowest6 share it

    Middle country: 30.772

  • Population in rural areas (%)

    Highest3 share it

    Lowest3 share it

    Middle country: 28.367

032005 → 2006

Since 2005

  • +0 / −0countries joined / left
  • 180values changed, of 222 in both
  • 140 · 40rose · fell
  • 42unchanged

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 2006.

  • 182 distinct values among 222

    Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 39 countries share 0.00. 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 (2006). Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 2006 [data set], describing 2006. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/population-in-cities/2006

0676 held

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