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

32.84 km² per grid cell, with Laos ahead.

How many years of comparable data are there for Laos 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.

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

Laos

201.75 km² per grid cell

in 2025

Papua New Guinea

168.91 km² per grid cell

in 2025

Laos rank

154th

Papua New Guinea rank

156th

Urban area over the long-term over time

Laos
Papua New Guinea

How they compare

Laos currently reports 201.75 km² per grid cell against 168.91 km² per grid cell in Papua New Guinea, a difference of 32.84 km² per grid cell.

That makes Laos's figure about 1.2 times Papua New Guinea's.

The two have swapped places 3 times across 108 shared years of data; in 1000 it was Papua New Guinea ahead.

Laos ranks 154th and Papua New Guinea ranks 156th of 202 countries.

Across the 40 decades both report, Laos averaged higher in 29 and Papua New Guinea in 11.

Head to head by decade

Decade	Laos	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	0.0008 km² per grid cell	0.0012 km² per grid cell	0.0005 km² per grid cell	Papua New Guinea
1300s	0.0025 km² per grid cell	0.0038 km² per grid cell	0.0013 km² per grid cell	Papua New Guinea
1400s	0.0082 km² per grid cell	0.012 km² per grid cell	0.0038 km² per grid cell	Papua New Guinea
1500s	0.0267 km² per grid cell	0.0378 km² per grid cell	0.0111 km² per grid cell	Papua New Guinea
1600s	0.1001 km² per grid cell	0.1185 km² per grid cell	0.0184 km² per grid cell	Papua New Guinea
1700s	0.3603 km² per grid cell	0.3626 km² per grid cell	0.0023 km² per grid cell	Papua New Guinea
1710s	0.3551 km² per grid cell	0.1632 km² per grid cell	0.1919 km² per grid cell	Laos
1720s	0.4124 km² per grid cell	0.1894 km² per grid cell	0.223 km² per grid cell	Laos
1730s	0.479 km² per grid cell	0.2195 km² per grid cell	0.2594 km² per grid cell	Laos
1740s	0.5561 km² per grid cell	0.254 km² per grid cell	0.3021 km² per grid cell	Laos
1750s	0.6454 km² per grid cell	0.2933 km² per grid cell	0.3521 km² per grid cell	Laos
1760s	0.749 km² per grid cell	0.338 km² per grid cell	0.411 km² per grid cell	Laos
1770s	0.8689 km² per grid cell	0.3885 km² per grid cell	0.4804 km² per grid cell	Laos
1780s	1.01 km² per grid cell	0.4455 km² per grid cell	0.5624 km² per grid cell	Laos
1790s	1.17 km² per grid cell	0.5095 km² per grid cell	0.6593 km² per grid cell	Laos
1800s	1.36 km² per grid cell	0.5811 km² per grid cell	0.7741 km² per grid cell	Laos
1810s	1.73 km² per grid cell	0.6609 km² per grid cell	1.06 km² per grid cell	Laos
1820s	2.17 km² per grid cell	0.7496 km² per grid cell	1.43 km² per grid cell	Laos
1830s	2.72 km² per grid cell	0.8478 km² per grid cell	1.87 km² per grid cell	Laos
1840s	3.37 km² per grid cell	0.9563 km² per grid cell	2.41 km² per grid cell	Laos
1850s	4.15 km² per grid cell	1.08 km² per grid cell	3.08 km² per grid cell	Laos
1860s	5.09 km² per grid cell	1.21 km² per grid cell	3.88 km² per grid cell	Laos
1870s	6.21 km² per grid cell	1.35 km² per grid cell	4.86 km² per grid cell	Laos
1880s	7.55 km² per grid cell	1.51 km² per grid cell	6.04 km² per grid cell	Laos
1890s	9.14 km² per grid cell	1.69 km² per grid cell	7.45 km² per grid cell	Laos
1900s	11.01 km² per grid cell	1.88 km² per grid cell	9.13 km² per grid cell	Laos
1910s	12.26 km² per grid cell	2.09 km² per grid cell	10.17 km² per grid cell	Laos
1920s	14.27 km² per grid cell	2.47 km² per grid cell	11.8 km² per grid cell	Laos
1930s	16.26 km² per grid cell	2.92 km² per grid cell	13.33 km² per grid cell	Laos
1940s	17.82 km² per grid cell	3.45 km² per grid cell	14.36 km² per grid cell	Laos
1950s	19.96 km² per grid cell	6.27 km² per grid cell	13.69 km² per grid cell	Laos
1960s	23.06 km² per grid cell	16.23 km² per grid cell	6.83 km² per grid cell	Laos
1970s	30.39 km² per grid cell	39.56 km² per grid cell	9.17 km² per grid cell	Papua New Guinea
1980s	38.05 km² per grid cell	56.94 km² per grid cell	18.9 km² per grid cell	Papua New Guinea
1990s	55.51 km² per grid cell	73.16 km² per grid cell	17.65 km² per grid cell	Papua New Guinea
2000s	95.09 km² per grid cell	86.03 km² per grid cell	9.05 km² per grid cell	Laos
2010s	145.75 km² per grid cell	114.81 km² per grid cell	30.94 km² per grid cell	Laos
2020s	188.14 km² per grid cell	154 km² per grid cell	34.14 km² per grid cell	Laos

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher urban area over the long-term, Laos or Papua New Guinea?: Laos, at 201.75 km² per grid cell against 168.91 km² per grid cell in Papua New Guinea as of 2025.
What is the difference in urban area over the long-term between Laos and Papua New Guinea?: 32.84 km² per grid cell, with Laos ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Laos and Papua New Guinea?: 108 years are reported by both, from 1000 to 2025.
How do Laos and Papua New Guinea rank globally for urban area over the long-term?: Laos ranks 154th 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.