Canada vs United Kingdom: Do more people live in urban or rural areas?
Canada
82.9%
in 2025
United Kingdom
83.3%
in 2025
Canada rank
61st
United Kingdom rank
60th
Do more people live in urban or rural areas? over time
- Canada
- United Kingdom
How they compare
United Kingdom currently reports 83.3% against 82.9% in Canada, a difference of 0.4%.
The two have swapped places 2 times across 108 shared years of data; in 1000 it was United Kingdom ahead.
Canada ranks 61st and United Kingdom ranks 60th of 238 countries.
United Kingdom has averaged higher in every one of the 40 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Canada | United Kingdom | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1000s | 0.0% | 2.4% | 2.4% | United Kingdom |
| 1100s | 0.0% | 3.1% | 3.1% | United Kingdom |
| 1200s | 0.0% | 2.2% | 2.2% | United Kingdom |
| 1300s | 0.0% | 2.2% | 2.2% | United Kingdom |
| 1400s | 0.1% | 2.5% | 2.4% | United Kingdom |
| 1500s | 0.2% | 2.1% | 1.9% | United Kingdom |
| 1600s | 0.7% | 2.1% | 1.4% | United Kingdom |
| 1700s | 2.0% | 2.1% | 0.1% | United Kingdom |
| 1710s | 2.0% | 6.3% | 4.3% | United Kingdom |
| 1720s | 2.3% | 10.5% | 8.2% | United Kingdom |
| 1730s | 2.7% | 14.8% | 12.1% | United Kingdom |
| 1740s | 3.1% | 19.0% | 15.8% | United Kingdom |
| 1750s | 3.7% | 23.2% | 19.5% | United Kingdom |
| 1760s | 4.3% | 24.3% | 20.0% | United Kingdom |
| 1770s | 5.0% | 25.4% | 20.4% | United Kingdom |
| 1780s | 5.8% | 26.5% | 20.7% | United Kingdom |
| 1790s | 6.8% | 27.6% | 20.8% | United Kingdom |
| 1800s | 7.9% | 28.7% | 20.8% | United Kingdom |
| 1810s | 9.3% | 32.1% | 22.8% | United Kingdom |
| 1820s | 10.8% | 35.4% | 24.6% | United Kingdom |
| 1830s | 12.6% | 38.8% | 26.1% | United Kingdom |
| 1840s | 14.7% | 42.1% | 27.4% | United Kingdom |
| 1850s | 17.2% | 45.5% | 28.3% | United Kingdom |
| 1860s | 20.0% | 48.8% | 28.8% | United Kingdom |
| 1870s | 23.4% | 52.2% | 28.8% | United Kingdom |
| 1880s | 27.3% | 55.5% | 28.3% | United Kingdom |
| 1890s | 31.8% | 58.9% | 27.1% | United Kingdom |
| 1900s | 37.5% | 62.2% | 24.7% | United Kingdom |
| 1910s | 45.4% | 65.6% | 20.2% | United Kingdom |
| 1920s | 49.5% | 68.9% | 19.4% | United Kingdom |
| 1930s | 56.0% | 72.3% | 16.3% | United Kingdom |
| 1940s | 60.0% | 75.6% | 15.6% | United Kingdom |
| 1950s | 65.5% | 79.7% | 14.2% | United Kingdom |
| 1960s | 72.4% | 77.7% | 5.3% | United Kingdom |
| 1970s | 75.8% | 77.5% | 1.8% | United Kingdom |
| 1980s | 76.2% | 78.4% | 2.2% | United Kingdom |
| 1990s | 77.5% | 78.7% | 1.2% | United Kingdom |
| 2000s | 79.8% | 80.4% | 0.6% | United Kingdom |
| 2010s | 81.3% | 81.8% | 0.5% | United Kingdom |
| 2020s | 82.4% | 83.1% | 0.7% | United Kingdom |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher do more people live in urban or rural areas?, Canada or United Kingdom?
- United Kingdom, at 83.3% against 82.9% in Canada as of 2025.
- What is the difference in do more people live in urban or rural areas? between Canada and United Kingdom?
- 0.4%, with United Kingdom ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Canada and United Kingdom?
- 108 years are reported by both, from 1000 to 2025.
- How do Canada and United Kingdom rank globally for do more people live in urban or rural areas??
- Canada ranks 61st and United Kingdom ranks 60th 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.