Cambodia vs Laos: Do more people live in urban or rural areas?
Cambodia
41.1%
in 2025
Laos
40.3%
in 2025
Cambodia rank
185th
Laos rank
187th
Do more people live in urban or rural areas? over time
- Cambodia
- Laos
How they compare
Cambodia currently reports 41.1% against 40.3% in Laos, a difference of 0.8%.
The two have swapped places 4 times across 108 shared years of data; in 1000 it was Cambodia ahead.
Cambodia ranks 185th and Laos ranks 187th of 238 countries.
Across the 40 decades both report, Cambodia averaged higher in 37 and Laos in 3.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Cambodia | Laos | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1000s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Cambodia |
| 1100s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Cambodia |
| 1200s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Cambodia |
| 1300s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Cambodia |
| 1400s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Cambodia |
| 1500s | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.1% | Cambodia |
| 1600s | 0.3% | 0.1% | 0.2% | Cambodia |
| 1700s | 1.0% | 0.3% | 0.7% | Cambodia |
| 1710s | 1.1% | 0.3% | 0.8% | Cambodia |
| 1720s | 1.2% | 0.3% | 0.9% | Cambodia |
| 1730s | 1.4% | 0.4% | 1.0% | Cambodia |
| 1740s | 1.5% | 0.4% | 1.0% | Cambodia |
| 1750s | 1.6% | 0.5% | 1.1% | Cambodia |
| 1760s | 1.8% | 0.6% | 1.2% | Cambodia |
| 1770s | 1.9% | 0.6% | 1.3% | Cambodia |
| 1780s | 2.1% | 0.7% | 1.4% | Cambodia |
| 1790s | 2.3% | 0.8% | 1.5% | Cambodia |
| 1800s | 2.6% | 1.0% | 1.6% | Cambodia |
| 1810s | 2.8% | 1.1% | 1.7% | Cambodia |
| 1820s | 3.1% | 1.3% | 1.8% | Cambodia |
| 1830s | 3.4% | 1.4% | 1.9% | Cambodia |
| 1840s | 3.7% | 1.6% | 2.0% | Cambodia |
| 1850s | 4.0% | 1.9% | 2.1% | Cambodia |
| 1860s | 4.4% | 2.2% | 2.3% | Cambodia |
| 1870s | 4.8% | 2.5% | 2.4% | Cambodia |
| 1880s | 5.3% | 2.8% | 2.5% | Cambodia |
| 1890s | 5.8% | 3.2% | 2.6% | Cambodia |
| 1900s | 6.3% | 3.7% | 2.7% | Cambodia |
| 1910s | 6.9% | 4.2% | 2.7% | Cambodia |
| 1920s | 7.6% | 4.8% | 2.8% | Cambodia |
| 1930s | 8.3% | 5.5% | 2.8% | Cambodia |
| 1940s | 9.1% | 6.3% | 2.9% | Cambodia |
| 1950s | 8.9% | 7.7% | 1.2% | Cambodia |
| 1960s | 10.8% | 8.3% | 2.5% | Cambodia |
| 1970s | 15.2% | 10.9% | 4.3% | Cambodia |
| 1980s | 14.0% | 13.7% | 0.3% | Cambodia |
| 1990s | 17.3% | 17.5% | 0.2% | Laos |
| 2000s | 19.2% | 26.6% | 7.4% | Laos |
| 2010s | 29.6% | 33.1% | 3.5% | Laos |
| 2020s | 40.5% | 38.5% | 2.0% | Cambodia |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher do more people live in urban or rural areas?, Cambodia or Laos?
- Cambodia, at 41.1% against 40.3% in Laos as of 2025.
- What is the difference in do more people live in urban or rural areas? between Cambodia and Laos?
- 0.8%, with Cambodia ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Cambodia and Laos?
- 108 years are reported by both, from 1000 to 2025.
- How do Cambodia and Laos rank globally for do more people live in urban or rural areas??
- Cambodia ranks 185th and Laos ranks 187th 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.