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 2021, 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

0.021.442.864.285.6Papua New GuineaPapua New Guinea: 8685.6LiechtensteinLiechtenstein: 8585.3MalawiMalawi: 8483.5NigerNiger: 8382.8SamoaSamoa: 8282.4Sri LankaSri Lanka: 8080.2South SudanSouth Sudan: 8079.5BurundiBurundi: 7978.9TongaTonga: 7978.7EthiopiaEthiopia: 7877.9VanuatuVanuatu: 7877.7Micronesia, Fed. Sts.Micronesia, Fed. Sts.: 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 South Sudan 80
8 Burundi 79
9 Tonga 79
10 Ethiopia 78
11 Vanuatu 78
12 Micronesia, Fed. Sts. 78
13 Antigua and Barbuda 75
14 Eswatini 75
15 Chad 75
16 Afghanistan 75
17 Rwanda 74
18 Tajikistan 74
19 Guyana 74
20 Burkina Faso 73
21 St. Lucia 73
22 Solomon Islands 71
23 Timor-Leste 71
24 Uganda 71
25 Mali 70
26 Myanmar 70
27 Madagascar 69
28 Kenya 69
29 Bangladesh 69
30 St. Kitts and Nevis 68
31 Comoros 68
32 Channel Islands 67
33 Tanzania 66
34 India 66
35 Mozambique 66
36 Sudan 65
37 Kyrgyz Republic 65
38 Eritrea 65
39 Yemen, Rep. 64
40 Grenada 64
41 Viet Nam 63
42 Guinea 63
43 Lao PDR 63
44 Zimbabwe 62
45 Pakistan 62
46 Faroe Islands 61
47 Mauritius 61
48 Cambodia 60
49 Bhutan 60
50 Lesotho 59

Analytical takeaways

  • Papua New Guinea leads the global ranking for Rural population (% of total population) in 2021, 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 Micronesia, Fed. Sts. at 78.
  • The ranking page acts as a high-intent entry point into country+indicator pages, year archives, and thematic collections.