Denmark vs Sweden: Do more people live in urban or rural areas?
Denmark
88.8%
in 2025
Sweden
89.1%
in 2025
Denmark rank
45th
Sweden rank
43rd
Do more people live in urban or rural areas? over time
- Denmark
- Sweden
How they compare
Sweden currently reports 89.1% against 88.8% in Denmark, a difference of 0.3%.
The two have swapped places 5 times across 108 shared years of data; in 1000 it was Denmark ahead.
Denmark ranks 45th and Sweden ranks 43rd of 238 countries.
Across the 40 decades both report, Denmark averaged higher in 10 and Sweden in 27.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Denmark | Sweden | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1000s | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.1% | Denmark |
| 1100s | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0.2% | Denmark |
| 1200s | 0.3% | 0.0% | 0.2% | Denmark |
| 1300s | 0.4% | 0.1% | 0.3% | Denmark |
| 1400s | 0.6% | 0.3% | 0.3% | Denmark |
| 1500s | 0.9% | 0.9% | 0.0% | — |
| 1600s | 1.4% | 1.4% | 0.0% | — |
| 1700s | 4.0% | 4.0% | 0.0% | — |
| 1710s | 5.4% | 6.5% | 1.0% | Sweden |
| 1720s | 6.0% | 8.9% | 2.9% | Sweden |
| 1730s | 6.7% | 11.4% | 4.7% | Sweden |
| 1740s | 7.4% | 13.9% | 6.4% | Sweden |
| 1750s | 8.3% | 16.4% | 8.1% | Sweden |
| 1760s | 9.2% | 18.8% | 9.6% | Sweden |
| 1770s | 10.2% | 21.3% | 11.1% | Sweden |
| 1780s | 11.3% | 23.8% | 12.4% | Sweden |
| 1790s | 12.6% | 26.2% | 13.6% | Sweden |
| 1800s | 14.0% | 28.7% | 14.7% | Sweden |
| 1810s | 15.6% | 31.2% | 15.6% | Sweden |
| 1820s | 17.3% | 33.6% | 16.4% | Sweden |
| 1830s | 19.2% | 36.1% | 16.9% | Sweden |
| 1840s | 21.3% | 38.6% | 17.2% | Sweden |
| 1850s | 23.7% | 41.1% | 17.3% | Sweden |
| 1860s | 26.4% | 43.5% | 17.2% | Sweden |
| 1870s | 29.3% | 46.0% | 16.7% | Sweden |
| 1880s | 32.5% | 48.5% | 15.9% | Sweden |
| 1890s | 36.2% | 50.9% | 14.8% | Sweden |
| 1900s | 40.2% | 53.4% | 13.2% | Sweden |
| 1910s | 44.6% | 55.9% | 11.2% | Sweden |
| 1920s | 49.6% | 58.4% | 8.8% | Sweden |
| 1930s | 55.1% | 60.8% | 5.7% | Sweden |
| 1940s | 61.2% | 63.3% | 2.1% | Sweden |
| 1950s | 71.0% | 68.1% | 2.9% | Denmark |
| 1960s | 76.6% | 76.6% | 0.0% | Sweden |
| 1970s | 81.8% | 82.4% | 0.6% | Sweden |
| 1980s | 84.4% | 83.1% | 1.3% | Denmark |
| 1990s | 85.0% | 83.8% | 1.2% | Denmark |
| 2000s | 85.9% | 84.4% | 1.5% | Denmark |
| 2010s | 87.6% | 86.4% | 1.2% | Denmark |
| 2020s | 88.5% | 88.5% | 0.0% | Sweden |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher do more people live in urban or rural areas?, Denmark or Sweden?
- Sweden, at 89.1% against 88.8% in Denmark as of 2025.
- What is the difference in do more people live in urban or rural areas? between Denmark and Sweden?
- 0.3%, with Sweden ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Denmark and Sweden?
- 108 years are reported by both, from 1000 to 2025.
- How do Denmark and Sweden rank globally for do more people live in urban or rural areas??
- Denmark ranks 45th and Sweden ranks 43rd 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.