Iceland vs Japan: Do more people live in urban or rural areas?

Iceland

94.2%

in 2025

Japan

92.3%

in 2025

Iceland rank

30th

Japan rank

33rd

Do more people live in urban or rural areas? over time

Iceland currently reports 94.2% against 92.3% in Japan, a difference of 1.9%.

The two have swapped places 1 time across 108 shared years of data; in 1000 it was Japan ahead.

Iceland ranks 30th and Japan ranks 33rd of 238 countries.

Indicator: Do more people live in urban or rural areas?
Unit: %
Source: HYDE (2023); United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 239 places, 24,444 data points, 1000–2025
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

Share of the population living in urban areas, combining UN estimates with modelled historical data.