World Bank Open Data · CC BY 4.0 Some World Bank indicators are published with a lag. The site always shows the latest actually available year for each country and indicator.
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Countries with the highest
Rural population (% of total population)

In 2020, Papua New Guinea leads Rural population (% of total population) with 86. Liechtenstein follows at 85, and the gap between the top two positions is 0. This page is built for long-tail search demand and links to archives and country profiles.

Year archive

Latest available year 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020

Ranking leaders

0.021.542.964.485.8Papua New GuineaPapua New Guinea: 8685.8LiechtensteinLiechtenstein: 8585.3MalawiMalawi: 8483.7NigerNiger: 8383.0SamoaSamoa: 8281.9Sri LankaSri Lanka: 8080.3BurundiBurundi: 8080.1South SudanSouth Sudan: 8079.8EthiopiaEthiopia: 7878.4TongaTonga: 7878.1Micronesia, Fed. Sts.Micronesia, Fed. Sts.: 7877.6VanuatuVanuatu: 7877.6

Full table

#CountryValue
1 Papua New Guinea 86
2 Liechtenstein 85
3 Malawi 84
4 Niger 83
5 Samoa 82
6 Sri Lanka 80
7 Burundi 80
8 South Sudan 80
9 Ethiopia 78
10 Tonga 78
11 Micronesia, Fed. Sts. 78
12 Vanuatu 78
13 Rwanda 75
14 Antigua and Barbuda 75
15 Eswatini 75
16 Chad 75
17 Afghanistan 75
18 St. Lucia 74
19 Tajikistan 74
20 Burkina Faso 74
21 Guyana 74
22 Solomon Islands 72
23 Uganda 71
24 Timor-Leste 71
25 Mali 71
26 Myanmar 70
27 Madagascar 69
28 Bangladesh 69
29 Kenya 69
30 St. Kitts and Nevis 69
31 Comoros 68
32 Channel Islands 67
33 Tanzania 66
34 Mozambique 66
35 India 66
36 Sudan 65
37 Kyrgyz Republic 65
38 Eritrea 65
39 Viet Nam 64
40 Yemen, Rep. 64
41 Grenada 64
42 Guinea 64
43 Lao PDR 63
44 Zimbabwe 63
45 Pakistan 62
46 Faroe Islands 61
47 Mauritius 61
48 Lesotho 60
49 Bhutan 60
50 Cambodia 60

Analytical takeaways

  • Papua New Guinea leads the global ranking for Rural population (% of total population) in 2020, with a lead of 0 over the next country.
  • The visible slice on this page covers 12 countries, and the lower edge of that slice currently sits with Vanuatu at 78.
  • The ranking page acts as a high-intent entry point into country+indicator pages, year archives, and thematic collections.