Population Density
Population density measures how many people live on each square kilometre of land. The figures range across four orders of magnitude, from microstates packed with over 20,000 people per km² to vast, sparsely settled nations with barely two. The numbers below come from the UN World Population Prospects and the World Bank.
Key Population Density Insights
The world averages about 60 people per km²
Spread evenly, Earth's roughly 8.2 billion people would put about 60 on every square kilometre of land. But the distribution is wildly uneven: Asia sits at around 156 people per km² while Oceania has just 5.
Microstates and city-states top the ranking
The densest places are tiny territories with almost no rural land. Macau records about 21,826 people per km², Monaco around 19,000, Singapore 8,290 and Hong Kong 7,062 — figures driven by small area, not unusually large populations.
Bangladesh is the densest large country
Among nations with tens of millions of people, Bangladesh leads at roughly 1,333 people per km² — denser than any other country of comparable size, and far above India's 441 or China's 151.
The emptiest countries are mostly desert or ice
Mongolia (2.2), Australia (3.5), Namibia (3.7), Iceland (3.9) and Canada (4.5) have huge areas but small populations clustered in narrow habitable zones, leaving most of the land almost uninhabited.
Most Densely Populated Countries & Territories
People per square kilometre of land area for the world's most crowded places (log scale). Microstates and special administrative regions dominate the top of the list.
Key Finding: Macau (21,826/km²), Monaco (19,000) and Singapore (8,290) are the three densest territories on Earth.
Least Densely Populated Countries
People per square kilometre for the world's emptiest countries and territories. These nations combine vast land areas with small populations concentrated in limited habitable zones.
Key Finding: Mongolia (2.2/km²) is the least dense sovereign state; Greenland is lower still at about 0.03.
Population Density by Continent
Average people per square kilometre across the world's inhabited continents, showing how concentrated humanity is in Asia compared with the Americas and Oceania.
Key Finding: Asia averages about 156 people per km² — over 30 times denser than Oceania's 5.
Density of Large, Populous Countries vs World Average
People per square kilometre for major countries alongside the world average of roughly 60, putting big national populations in spatial perspective.
Key Finding: Bangladesh (1,333/km²) is over 20 times the world average, while the US (37) and Russia (8.6) sit well below it.
Overall vs Physiological (Arable-Land) Density
Comparing density per square kilometre of total land with density per square kilometre of arable land (log scale, UN FAO 2021). Physiological density reveals real pressure on farmland.
Key Finding: Egypt's overall density is just 109/km², but per km² of arable land it leaps to 9,200 — nearly all Egyptians live along the Nile.
Understanding Population Density Data
What population density measures
Population density is the total number of people divided by total land area, expressed as people per square kilometre (km²). The World Bank and UN base it on land area, excluding inland water bodies. It is also called arithmetic density. The world average is about 60 people per km², but national values span from under 1 to over 20,000.
Why microstates dominate the ranking
The densest places are nearly all tiny territories and city-states — Macau, Monaco, Singapore, Hong Kong, Gibraltar. Their populations are modest in absolute terms, but they have almost no rural or uninhabited land to dilute the figure. A single dense city counted as a whole country produces an extreme density that no large nation can match.
Physiological and arable density
Physiological density divides population by arable land rather than total area, measuring real pressure on the land that grows food. A country can look sparse overall yet be intensely crowded on its usable land. Egypt is the classic case: roughly 109 people per km² overall, but about 9,200 per km² of arable land, because almost everyone lives along the Nile while 95% of the country is desert.
Caveats and comparability
Density figures depend on the year and land-area definition used; values here draw on UN World Population Prospects, World Bank (2023-2024) and UN FAO (2021 for arable land), so a few numbers differ slightly by vintage. National averages also hide enormous internal variation — Canada and Australia are mostly empty but heavily urbanised at the coasts, so a single country-wide figure can mislead.