Iran vs Malaysia: Do more people live in urban or rural areas?

Iran
77.4%
in 2025
Malaysia
77.4%
in 2025
Iran rank
83rd
Malaysia rank
82nd

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

  • Iran
  • Malaysia
020406080100015122025

How they compare

Malaysia currently reports 77.4% against 77.4% in Iran, a difference of 0.0%.

The two have swapped places 3 times across 108 shared years of data; in 1000 it was Iran ahead.

Iran ranks 83rd and Malaysia ranks 82nd of 238 countries.

Across the 40 decades both report, Iran averaged higher in 39 and Malaysia in 1.

Head to head by decade

Decade Iran Malaysia Difference Ahead
1000s 2.0% 0.0% 2.0% Iran
1100s 2.1% 0.0% 2.1% Iran
1200s 2.2% 0.0% 2.2% Iran
1300s 2.3% 0.0% 2.3% Iran
1400s 2.4% 0.1% 2.3% Iran
1500s 2.5% 0.2% 2.3% Iran
1600s 2.6% 0.7% 1.9% Iran
1700s 2.7% 2.0% 0.7% Iran
1710s 3.1% 2.3% 0.8% Iran
1720s 3.4% 2.5% 0.8% Iran
1730s 3.7% 2.8% 0.9% Iran
1740s 4.0% 3.0% 1.0% Iran
1750s 4.4% 3.3% 1.1% Iran
1760s 4.8% 3.6% 1.2% Iran
1770s 5.3% 4.0% 1.3% Iran
1780s 5.8% 4.3% 1.5% Iran
1790s 6.3% 4.7% 1.6% Iran
1800s 7.0% 5.2% 1.8% Iran
1810s 7.6% 5.7% 1.9% Iran
1820s 8.3% 6.2% 2.1% Iran
1830s 9.1% 6.8% 2.3% Iran
1840s 10.0% 7.5% 2.5% Iran
1850s 11.0% 8.2% 2.8% Iran
1860s 12.0% 9.0% 3.0% Iran
1870s 13.1% 9.8% 3.3% Iran
1880s 14.4% 10.8% 3.6% Iran
1890s 15.8% 11.8% 4.0% Iran
1900s 17.3% 12.9% 4.4% Iran
1910s 18.9% 14.2% 4.8% Iran
1920s 20.7% 15.5% 5.2% Iran
1930s 22.7% 17.0% 5.7% Iran
1940s 24.9% 18.6% 6.3% Iran
1950s 30.3% 23.3% 7.0% Iran
1960s 37.1% 27.6% 9.4% Iran
1970s 45.5% 31.3% 14.2% Iran
1980s 53.1% 40.2% 12.9% Iran
1990s 60.0% 55.1% 4.8% Iran
2000s 67.4% 66.4% 1.0% Iran
2010s 73.0% 73.1% 0.0% Malaysia
2020s 76.5% 76.2% 0.3% Iran

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher do more people live in urban or rural areas?, Iran or Malaysia?
Malaysia, at 77.4% against 77.4% in Iran as of 2025.
What is the difference in do more people live in urban or rural areas? between Iran and Malaysia?
0.0%, with Malaysia ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Iran and Malaysia?
108 years are reported by both, from 1000 to 2025.
How do Iran and Malaysia rank globally for do more people live in urban or rural areas??
Iran ranks 83rd and Malaysia ranks 82nd 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

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Iran vs Malaysia: Do more people live in urban or rural areas?. Statizoid, drawing on HYDE (2023); United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Retrieved 23 September 2026, from https://reference.statizoid.com/compare/urban-vs-rural-majority/iran-islamic-rep/malaysia/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://reference.statizoid.com/compare/urban-vs-rural-majority/iran-islamic-rep/malaysia/">Iran vs Malaysia: Do more people live in urban or rural areas?</a> — Statizoid

About this data

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

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