Skip to content
Nations Inquiry — home

Data for 1981

Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 1981

1981, as UN DESA Population Division’s 2025 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 1981 covers 222 countries on 3 measures. 2 countries share the highest reading, 100.000; 46 countries share the lowest reading, 0.000. The middle country reads 23.974. Against 1980, 173 values changed (142 up, 31 down), the same countries are covered.

Download CSVCite this year
Share

Share this page

Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation) · Data for 1981

Highest2 countries share it

100.000

Lowest46 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), 1981, 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), 1981: every country, as published by UN DESA Population Division.
GibraltarGIBSouthern Europe100.0000.0000.000
Vatican CityVATSouthern Europe100.0000.0000.000
SingaporeSGPSouth-eastern Asia98.5201.3500.130
Hong KongHKGEastern Asia93.8015.3630.836
MacauMACEastern Asia85.05414.2680.679
KuwaitKWTWestern Asia84.74410.8814.375
Republic of the CongoCOGMiddle Africa74.03910.67215.289
MaltaMLTSouthern Europe68.53823.4438.019
TaiwanTWNEastern Asia67.62125.6896.690
South KoreaKOREastern Asia66.83317.83315.334
LebanonLBNWestern Asia66.17919.19114.630
JapanJPNEastern Asia63.92225.99210.087
North KoreaPRKEastern Asia61.33226.01712.651
ArgentinaARGSouth America56.26124.58319.156
UruguayURYSouth America54.09029.91415.996
JordanJORWestern Asia53.94923.56322.488
VenezuelaVENSouth America53.85129.18716.963
BahrainBHRWestern Asia53.20142.2204.579
United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe52.48032.20115.318
ChileCHLSouth America50.80020.20928.991
Trinidad and TobagoTTOCaribbean49.73636.19114.073
BarbadosBRBCaribbean49.18938.10212.709
ColombiaCOLSouth America48.78122.97628.243
IsraelISRWestern Asia48.44737.26714.286
JamaicaJAMCaribbean47.92625.70326.371

02In 1981

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. Singapore98.520
  4. Hong Kong93.801
  5. Macau85.054

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 23.974. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

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

    HighestMonaco100.000

    Lowest8 share it

    Middle country: 32.757

  • Population in rural areas (%)

    Highest6 share it

    Lowest3 share it

    Middle country: 35.477

031980 → 1981

Since 1980

What changed between 1980 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

  • +0 / −0countries joined / left
  • 173values changed, of 222 in both
  • 142 · 31rose · fell
  • 49unchanged

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 1981.

  • 175 distinct values among 222

    Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 46 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 (1981). Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 1981 [data set], describing 1981. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/population-in-cities/1981

0676 held

Other years

07Questions

Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 1981: questions and answers

Which country has the highest population living in cities in Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 1981?

2 countries share the highest reading, 100.000, so no single country is named.

What year does Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 1981 describe?

1981.

How many countries does Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 1981 cover?

222.

Where can I download Population Living in Cities (Degree of Urbanisation), 1981?

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), 1981 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.