Skip to content
Nations Inquiry — home

Data for 1956

Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 1956

1956, as UN DESA Population Division’s 2025 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 1956 covers 222 countries on 3 measures. Vatican City is highest, at 100.000; 74 countries share the lowest reading, 0.000. The middle country reads 12.071. Against 1955, 147 values changed (142 up, 5 down), the same countries are covered.

Download CSVCite this year
Share

Share this page

Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation) · Data for 1956

HighestVatican City

100.000

Lowest74 countries share it

0.000

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the highest end. Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score.

01Values only

The table

Every country and every column of Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 1956, 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), 1956: every country, as published by UN DESA Population Division.
Vatican CityVATSouthern Europe100.0000.0000.000
MacauMACEastern Asia90.7278.6190.654
Hong KongHKGEastern Asia90.5127.5551.933
SingaporeSGPSouth-eastern Asia88.69411.0450.261
MaltaMLTSouthern Europe67.30623.7238.971
United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe55.58428.69215.723
JapanJPNEastern Asia48.49238.90412.603
TaiwanTWNEastern Asia47.03340.87212.096
UruguayURYSouth America47.02134.26318.716
JamaicaJAMCaribbean46.34421.47432.182
KuwaitKWTWestern Asia46.30442.56211.135
ArgentinaARGSouth America43.92631.29724.777
BarbadosBRBCaribbean43.66043.84612.493
Republic of the CongoCOGMiddle Africa43.60130.93025.469
LebanonLBNWestern Asia41.23439.57319.193
South KoreaKOREastern Asia38.49235.95425.553
NetherlandsNLDWestern Europe38.28139.66522.054
Trinidad and TobagoTTOCaribbean37.22844.53918.233
MauritiusMUSEastern Africa36.36745.25418.379
GreeceGRCSouthern Europe35.21129.17235.617
North KoreaPRKEastern Asia34.97347.50817.519
RussiaRUSEastern Europe34.68838.67926.633
UkraineUKREastern Europe34.27434.21431.512
IndonesiaIDNSouth-eastern Asia33.98839.77326.239
ArmeniaARMWestern Asia33.75628.89637.347

02In 1956

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. Macau90.727
  3. Hong Kong90.512
  4. Singapore88.694
  5. Malta67.306

Lowest

  1. Kosovoshared0.000
  2. Samoashared0.000
  3. Vanuatushared0.000
  4. United States Virgin Islandsshared0.000
  5. British Virgin Islandsshared0.000

Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score. The middle country reads 12.071. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

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

    Highest2 share it

    Lowest15 share it

    Middle country: 35.942

  • Population in rural areas (%)

    Highest14 share it

    Lowest3 share it

    Middle country: 47.335

031955 → 1956

Since 1955

What changed between 1955 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

  • +0 / −0countries joined / left
  • 147values changed, of 222 in both
  • 142 · 5rose · fell
  • 75unchanged

Rose most

Fell most

Both years come from the same release, so a difference here is a change in the data, not a revision of it. Every country’s full history is charted on the statistic page.

04Caveats

Read before you use

What this edition’s numbers are and are not, worked out from the file itself.

The site’s method

  • One year of the 2025 release

    Every year in this series comes from UN DESA Population Division’s 2025 release, recalculated on one method. It can differ from what was first published for 1956.

  • 149 distinct values among 222

    Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 74 countries share 0.000. Countries sharing a value share a position too.

  • Which end is better

    Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score.

  • Nothing missing

    Every one of the 222 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

The table as a file, digit for digit, what this site changed, and a citation for this edition.

Licence in full

What this site changed: Reshaped into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.

Licence: CC BY 3.0 IGO. The version of CC BY written for intergovernmental organisations. Credit the publisher and say what you changed.

Cite this edition

UN DESA Population Division (1956). Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 1956 [data set], describing 1956. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/population-in-cities/1956

0676 held

Other years

07Questions

Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 1956: questions and answers

Which country has the highest population living in cities in Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 1956?

Vatican City, at 100.000, of the 222 countries in the file.

What year does Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 1956 describe?

1956.

How many countries does Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 1956 cover?

222.

Where can I download Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 1956?

On this page, as a CSV file holding every value exactly as published, or from the publisher’s own site, linked below.

Is Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 1956 the newest?

No. The newest held here is Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 2025.

Feedback

Feedback

How are we doing?

Two answers are required — a rating and your email. The rest is up to you.