Benin vs Somalia: Do more people live in urban or rural areas?
Benin
53.4%
in 2025
Somalia
55.1%
in 2025
Benin rank
163rd
Somalia rank
160th
Do more people live in urban or rural areas? over time
- Benin
- Somalia
How they compare
Somalia currently reports 55.1% against 53.4% in Benin, a difference of 1.7%.
The two have swapped places 4 times across 108 shared years of data; in 1000 it was Somalia ahead.
Benin ranks 163rd and Somalia ranks 160th of 238 countries.
Across the 40 decades both report, Benin averaged higher in 7 and Somalia in 25.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Benin | Somalia | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1000s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | — |
| 1100s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | — |
| 1200s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | — |
| 1300s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | — |
| 1400s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | — |
| 1500s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | — |
| 1600s | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.0% | — |
| 1700s | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.0% | — |
| 1710s | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.0% | Benin |
| 1720s | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.0% | Benin |
| 1730s | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.0% | Benin |
| 1740s | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.0% | Somalia |
| 1750s | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.0% | Somalia |
| 1760s | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.0% | Somalia |
| 1770s | 0.4% | 0.5% | 0.1% | Somalia |
| 1780s | 0.5% | 0.6% | 0.1% | Somalia |
| 1790s | 0.5% | 0.7% | 0.2% | Somalia |
| 1800s | 0.6% | 0.8% | 0.2% | Somalia |
| 1810s | 0.7% | 1.0% | 0.3% | Somalia |
| 1820s | 0.8% | 1.2% | 0.4% | Somalia |
| 1830s | 0.9% | 1.4% | 0.5% | Somalia |
| 1840s | 1.0% | 1.7% | 0.7% | Somalia |
| 1850s | 1.2% | 2.1% | 0.9% | Somalia |
| 1860s | 1.4% | 2.5% | 1.1% | Somalia |
| 1870s | 1.5% | 3.0% | 1.4% | Somalia |
| 1880s | 1.8% | 3.6% | 1.8% | Somalia |
| 1890s | 2.0% | 4.3% | 2.2% | Somalia |
| 1900s | 2.3% | 5.1% | 2.8% | Somalia |
| 1910s | 2.6% | 6.1% | 3.5% | Somalia |
| 1920s | 3.0% | 7.4% | 4.3% | Somalia |
| 1930s | 3.5% | 8.8% | 5.4% | Somalia |
| 1940s | 3.9% | 10.6% | 6.7% | Somalia |
| 1950s | 7.8% | 15.0% | 7.1% | Somalia |
| 1960s | 12.8% | 20.1% | 7.2% | Somalia |
| 1970s | 22.3% | 25.2% | 2.9% | Somalia |
| 1980s | 30.9% | 27.9% | 3.0% | Benin |
| 1990s | 36.6% | 30.9% | 5.6% | Benin |
| 2000s | 40.2% | 35.3% | 4.9% | Benin |
| 2010s | 45.7% | 44.3% | 1.4% | Benin |
| 2020s | 51.4% | 53.8% | 2.4% | Somalia |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher do more people live in urban or rural areas?, Benin or Somalia?
- Somalia, at 55.1% against 53.4% in Benin as of 2025.
- What is the difference in do more people live in urban or rural areas? between Benin and Somalia?
- 1.7%, with Somalia ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Benin and Somalia?
- 108 years are reported by both, from 1000 to 2025.
- How do Benin and Somalia rank globally for do more people live in urban or rural areas??
- Benin ranks 163rd and Somalia ranks 160th 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.