Barbados vs Jamaica: Do more people live in urban or rural areas?
Barbados
59.7%
in 2025
Jamaica
59.4%
in 2025
Barbados rank
142nd
Jamaica rank
145th
Do more people live in urban or rural areas? over time
- Barbados
- Jamaica
How they compare
Barbados currently reports 59.7% against 59.4% in Jamaica, a difference of 0.3%.
The two have swapped places 1 time across 108 shared years of data; in 1000 it was Jamaica ahead.
Barbados ranks 142nd and Jamaica ranks 145th of 238 countries.
Across the 40 decades both report, Barbados averaged higher in 11 and Jamaica in 29.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Barbados | Jamaica | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1000s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Jamaica |
| 1100s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Jamaica |
| 1200s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Jamaica |
| 1300s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Jamaica |
| 1400s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Jamaica |
| 1500s | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | Jamaica |
| 1600s | 0.1% | 0.4% | 0.3% | Jamaica |
| 1700s | 0.2% | 1.2% | 1.0% | Jamaica |
| 1710s | 0.2% | 1.4% | 1.3% | Jamaica |
| 1720s | 0.2% | 1.6% | 1.4% | Jamaica |
| 1730s | 0.3% | 1.8% | 1.5% | Jamaica |
| 1740s | 0.3% | 2.0% | 1.7% | Jamaica |
| 1750s | 0.4% | 2.3% | 1.9% | Jamaica |
| 1760s | 0.5% | 2.6% | 2.1% | Jamaica |
| 1770s | 0.6% | 2.9% | 2.2% | Jamaica |
| 1780s | 0.8% | 3.3% | 2.4% | Jamaica |
| 1790s | 1.0% | 3.7% | 2.6% | Jamaica |
| 1800s | 1.3% | 4.1% | 2.9% | Jamaica |
| 1810s | 1.6% | 4.6% | 3.1% | Jamaica |
| 1820s | 2.0% | 5.2% | 3.2% | Jamaica |
| 1830s | 2.5% | 5.9% | 3.4% | Jamaica |
| 1840s | 3.1% | 6.6% | 3.5% | Jamaica |
| 1850s | 3.9% | 7.4% | 3.6% | Jamaica |
| 1860s | 4.8% | 8.4% | 3.5% | Jamaica |
| 1870s | 6.0% | 9.4% | 3.4% | Jamaica |
| 1880s | 7.6% | 10.6% | 3.0% | Jamaica |
| 1890s | 9.5% | 11.9% | 2.4% | Jamaica |
| 1900s | 11.8% | 13.4% | 1.6% | Jamaica |
| 1910s | 14.8% | 15.1% | 0.3% | Jamaica |
| 1920s | 18.5% | 16.9% | 1.5% | Barbados |
| 1930s | 23.1% | 19.1% | 4.0% | Barbados |
| 1940s | 28.8% | 21.4% | 7.4% | Barbados |
| 1950s | 40.0% | 25.3% | 14.7% | Barbados |
| 1960s | 42.1% | 35.2% | 6.9% | Barbados |
| 1970s | 54.3% | 44.3% | 10.0% | Barbados |
| 1980s | 63.5% | 48.3% | 15.2% | Barbados |
| 1990s | 63.2% | 50.5% | 12.8% | Barbados |
| 2000s | 60.9% | 52.7% | 8.2% | Barbados |
| 2010s | 59.2% | 55.1% | 4.1% | Barbados |
| 2020s | 59.4% | 58.2% | 1.2% | Barbados |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher do more people live in urban or rural areas?, Barbados or Jamaica?
- Barbados, at 59.7% against 59.4% in Jamaica as of 2025.
- What is the difference in do more people live in urban or rural areas? between Barbados and Jamaica?
- 0.3%, with Barbados ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Barbados and Jamaica?
- 108 years are reported by both, from 1000 to 2025.
- How do Barbados and Jamaica rank globally for do more people live in urban or rural areas??
- Barbados ranks 142nd and Jamaica ranks 145th of 238 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- HYDE (2023); United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as Do more people live in urban or rural areas?. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
Share of the population living in urban areas, combining UN estimates with modeled historical data.