What is the difference in urban area over the long-term between Eritrea and Papua New Guinea?

13.69 km² per grid cell, with Papua New Guinea ahead.

How many years of comparable data are there for Eritrea and Papua New Guinea?

108 years are reported by both, from 1000 to 2025.

Where does this data come from?

HYDE (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as Urban area over the long-term. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Eritrea vs Papua New Guinea: Urban area over the long-term

Eritrea

155.22 km² per grid cell

in 2025

Papua New Guinea

168.91 km² per grid cell

in 2025

Eritrea rank

157th

Papua New Guinea rank

156th

Urban area over the long-term over time

Eritrea
Papua New Guinea

How they compare

Papua New Guinea currently reports 168.91 km² per grid cell against 155.22 km² per grid cell in Eritrea, a difference of 13.69 km² per grid cell.

That makes Papua New Guinea's figure about 1.1 times Eritrea's.

The two have swapped places 2 times across 108 shared years of data; in 1000 it was Papua New Guinea ahead.

Eritrea ranks 157th and Papua New Guinea ranks 156th of 202 countries.

Across the 40 decades both report, Eritrea averaged higher in 27 and Papua New Guinea in 13.

Head to head by decade

Decade	Eritrea	Papua New Guinea	Difference	Ahead
1000s	0.0001 km² per grid cell	0.0001 km² per grid cell	0.0001 km² per grid cell	Papua New Guinea
1100s	0.0002 km² per grid cell	0.0004 km² per grid cell	0.0002 km² per grid cell	Papua New Guinea
1200s	0.0006 km² per grid cell	0.0012 km² per grid cell	0.0006 km² per grid cell	Papua New Guinea
1300s	0.0021 km² per grid cell	0.0038 km² per grid cell	0.0017 km² per grid cell	Papua New Guinea
1400s	0.0073 km² per grid cell	0.012 km² per grid cell	0.0047 km² per grid cell	Papua New Guinea
1500s	0.0248 km² per grid cell	0.0378 km² per grid cell	0.013 km² per grid cell	Papua New Guinea
1600s	0.1172 km² per grid cell	0.1185 km² per grid cell	0.0013 km² per grid cell	Papua New Guinea
1700s	0.4803 km² per grid cell	0.3626 km² per grid cell	0.1177 km² per grid cell	Eritrea
1710s	0.5765 km² per grid cell	0.1632 km² per grid cell	0.4133 km² per grid cell	Eritrea
1720s	0.6701 km² per grid cell	0.1894 km² per grid cell	0.4807 km² per grid cell	Eritrea
1730s	0.7763 km² per grid cell	0.2195 km² per grid cell	0.5568 km² per grid cell	Eritrea
1740s	0.8967 km² per grid cell	0.254 km² per grid cell	0.6427 km² per grid cell	Eritrea
1750s	1.03 km² per grid cell	0.2933 km² per grid cell	0.7397 km² per grid cell	Eritrea
1760s	1.19 km² per grid cell	0.338 km² per grid cell	0.8491 km² per grid cell	Eritrea
1770s	1.36 km² per grid cell	0.3885 km² per grid cell	0.9727 km² per grid cell	Eritrea
1780s	1.56 km² per grid cell	0.4455 km² per grid cell	1.11 km² per grid cell	Eritrea
1790s	1.78 km² per grid cell	0.5095 km² per grid cell	1.27 km² per grid cell	Eritrea
1800s	2.03 km² per grid cell	0.5811 km² per grid cell	1.45 km² per grid cell	Eritrea
1810s	2.31 km² per grid cell	0.6609 km² per grid cell	1.65 km² per grid cell	Eritrea
1820s	2.63 km² per grid cell	0.7496 km² per grid cell	1.88 km² per grid cell	Eritrea
1830s	2.98 km² per grid cell	0.8478 km² per grid cell	2.13 km² per grid cell	Eritrea
1840s	3.38 km² per grid cell	0.9563 km² per grid cell	2.42 km² per grid cell	Eritrea
1850s	3.83 km² per grid cell	1.08 km² per grid cell	2.75 km² per grid cell	Eritrea
1860s	4.31 km² per grid cell	1.21 km² per grid cell	3.1 km² per grid cell	Eritrea
1870s	4.86 km² per grid cell	1.35 km² per grid cell	3.51 km² per grid cell	Eritrea
1880s	5.51 km² per grid cell	1.51 km² per grid cell	4 km² per grid cell	Eritrea
1890s	6.27 km² per grid cell	1.69 km² per grid cell	4.58 km² per grid cell	Eritrea
1900s	7.18 km² per grid cell	1.88 km² per grid cell	5.3 km² per grid cell	Eritrea
1910s	8.3 km² per grid cell	2.09 km² per grid cell	6.21 km² per grid cell	Eritrea
1920s	9.71 km² per grid cell	2.47 km² per grid cell	7.24 km² per grid cell	Eritrea
1930s	11.57 km² per grid cell	2.92 km² per grid cell	8.65 km² per grid cell	Eritrea
1940s	14.21 km² per grid cell	3.45 km² per grid cell	10.76 km² per grid cell	Eritrea
1950s	23.43 km² per grid cell	6.27 km² per grid cell	17.16 km² per grid cell	Eritrea
1960s	33.14 km² per grid cell	16.23 km² per grid cell	16.91 km² per grid cell	Eritrea
1970s	38.91 km² per grid cell	39.56 km² per grid cell	0.6552 km² per grid cell	Papua New Guinea
1980s	44.53 km² per grid cell	56.94 km² per grid cell	12.41 km² per grid cell	Papua New Guinea
1990s	46.32 km² per grid cell	73.16 km² per grid cell	26.85 km² per grid cell	Papua New Guinea
2000s	61.99 km² per grid cell	86.03 km² per grid cell	24.04 km² per grid cell	Papua New Guinea
2010s	95.7 km² per grid cell	114.81 km² per grid cell	19.1 km² per grid cell	Papua New Guinea
2020s	137.64 km² per grid cell	154 km² per grid cell	16.36 km² per grid cell	Papua New Guinea

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher urban area over the long-term, Eritrea or Papua New Guinea?: Papua New Guinea, at 168.91 km² per grid cell against 155.22 km² per grid cell in Eritrea as of 2025.
What is the difference in urban area over the long-term between Eritrea and Papua New Guinea?: 13.69 km² per grid cell, with Papua New Guinea ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Eritrea and Papua New Guinea?: 108 years are reported by both, from 1000 to 2025.
How do Eritrea and Papua New Guinea rank globally for urban area over the long-term?: Eritrea ranks 157th and Papua New Guinea ranks 156th of 202 countries.
Where does this data come from?: HYDE (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as Urban area over the long-term. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator: Urban area over the long-term
Unit: km² per grid cell
Source: HYDE (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 202 places, 21,816 data points, 1000–2025
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

Total built-up area of a country over time.