Germany vs Norway: Do more people live in urban or rural areas?
Germany
82.1%
in 2025
Norway
83.6%
in 2025
Germany rank
62nd
Norway rank
59th
Do more people live in urban or rural areas? over time
- Germany
- Norway
How they compare
Norway currently reports 83.6% against 82.1% in Germany, a difference of 1.5%.
The two have swapped places 3 times across 108 shared years of data; in 1000 it was Germany ahead.
Germany ranks 62nd and Norway ranks 59th of 238 countries.
Across the 40 decades both report, Germany averaged higher in 17 and Norway in 23.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Germany | Norway | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1000s | 2.2% | 0.1% | 2.1% | Germany |
| 1100s | 3.3% | 0.2% | 3.1% | Germany |
| 1200s | 4.9% | 0.3% | 4.7% | Germany |
| 1300s | 7.4% | 0.4% | 7.0% | Germany |
| 1400s | 11.1% | 0.6% | 10.5% | Germany |
| 1500s | 8.2% | 0.9% | 7.3% | Germany |
| 1600s | 8.5% | 1.4% | 7.1% | Germany |
| 1700s | 7.7% | 4.0% | 3.7% | Germany |
| 1710s | 8.1% | 5.9% | 2.2% | Germany |
| 1720s | 8.5% | 7.7% | 0.8% | Germany |
| 1730s | 8.9% | 9.6% | 0.7% | Norway |
| 1740s | 9.4% | 11.4% | 2.1% | Norway |
| 1750s | 9.8% | 13.3% | 3.5% | Norway |
| 1760s | 10.3% | 15.1% | 4.8% | Norway |
| 1770s | 10.8% | 17.0% | 6.2% | Norway |
| 1780s | 11.4% | 18.9% | 7.5% | Norway |
| 1790s | 11.9% | 20.7% | 8.8% | Norway |
| 1800s | 12.5% | 22.6% | 10.0% | Norway |
| 1810s | 13.2% | 24.4% | 11.3% | Norway |
| 1820s | 13.4% | 26.3% | 12.9% | Norway |
| 1830s | 13.7% | 28.2% | 14.5% | Norway |
| 1840s | 14.0% | 30.0% | 16.0% | Norway |
| 1850s | 14.3% | 31.9% | 17.6% | Norway |
| 1860s | 14.5% | 33.7% | 19.2% | Norway |
| 1870s | 14.8% | 35.6% | 20.8% | Norway |
| 1880s | 15.1% | 37.4% | 22.3% | Norway |
| 1890s | 15.4% | 39.3% | 23.9% | Norway |
| 1900s | 21.8% | 41.2% | 19.4% | Norway |
| 1910s | 27.3% | 43.0% | 15.8% | Norway |
| 1920s | 34.1% | 44.9% | 10.8% | Norway |
| 1930s | 42.6% | 46.7% | 4.1% | Norway |
| 1940s | 53.2% | 48.6% | 4.6% | Germany |
| 1950s | 72.9% | 48.2% | 24.7% | Germany |
| 1960s | 77.9% | 55.5% | 22.4% | Germany |
| 1970s | 79.8% | 68.4% | 11.4% | Germany |
| 1980s | 80.0% | 71.2% | 8.8% | Germany |
| 1990s | 80.0% | 73.8% | 6.3% | Germany |
| 2000s | 80.2% | 77.6% | 2.5% | Germany |
| 2010s | 80.7% | 80.8% | 0.1% | Norway |
| 2020s | 81.8% | 83.1% | 1.3% | Norway |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher do more people live in urban or rural areas?, Germany or Norway?
- Norway, at 83.6% against 82.1% in Germany as of 2025.
- What is the difference in do more people live in urban or rural areas? between Germany and Norway?
- 1.5%, with Norway ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Germany and Norway?
- 108 years are reported by both, from 1000 to 2025.
- How do Germany and Norway rank globally for do more people live in urban or rural areas??
- Germany ranks 62nd and Norway ranks 59th 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.