Population Density
Population Density by country
Commentary
Notable countries
Monaco is the clear outlier, with 18,692.9 people per km², far ahead of Singapore in second place at 8,241.85. The bottom end is led by Mongolia at 2.23, followed by Australia at 3.47 and Namibia at 3.6, showing how sparsely populated some large countries are. A notable surprise is Bangladesh ranking seventh globally at 1,319.18, while tiny states and territories dominate most of the top 10.
Regional trends
Europe has the highest continental average at 611 people per km², followed by Asia at 454.3, with both regions boosted by several very dense small states and territories. North America averages 186.1, while Oceania at 133.9 and Africa at 115.5 are much lower overall. South America stands out as the least dense region on average at 25.19, and it also places two countries in the global bottom 10.
Data source
The figures come from the World Bank WDI indicator EN.POP.DNST 2024 and are measured in people per km². The dataset covers 197 countries with available data. Values vary enormously across countries, as reflected in the very high standard deviation of 1,463.
Interpretation
Higher values mean more people living within a given land area, while lower values indicate more sparsely populated territory. Very high density can reflect compact city-states or heavily settled countries, whereas very low density is common in large countries with vast lightly inhabited land. Overall, the data show extreme global contrasts, so headline averages should be read alongside the wide spread between the most and least dense countries.