Malawi vs Tonga: Do more people live in urban or rural areas?
Malawi
17.6%
in 2025
Tonga
21.2%
in 2025
Malawi rank
232nd
Tonga rank
229th
Do more people live in urban or rural areas? over time
- Malawi
- Tonga
How they compare
Tonga currently reports 21.2% against 17.6% in Malawi, a difference of 3.6%.
That makes Tonga's figure about 1.2 times Malawi's.
The two have swapped places 1 time across 108 shared years of data; in 1000 it was Malawi ahead.
Malawi ranks 232nd and Tonga ranks 229th of 238 countries.
Across the 40 decades both report, Malawi averaged higher in 22 and Tonga in 18.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Malawi | Tonga | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1000s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Malawi |
| 1100s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Malawi |
| 1200s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Malawi |
| 1300s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Malawi |
| 1400s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Malawi |
| 1500s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Malawi |
| 1600s | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.1% | Malawi |
| 1700s | 0.3% | 0.1% | 0.2% | Malawi |
| 1710s | 0.4% | 0.1% | 0.3% | Malawi |
| 1720s | 0.4% | 0.1% | 0.3% | Malawi |
| 1730s | 0.5% | 0.1% | 0.4% | Malawi |
| 1740s | 0.5% | 0.1% | 0.4% | Malawi |
| 1750s | 0.6% | 0.1% | 0.4% | Malawi |
| 1760s | 0.6% | 0.2% | 0.4% | Malawi |
| 1770s | 0.7% | 0.2% | 0.4% | Malawi |
| 1780s | 0.7% | 0.3% | 0.4% | Malawi |
| 1790s | 0.8% | 0.4% | 0.4% | Malawi |
| 1800s | 0.9% | 0.5% | 0.4% | Malawi |
| 1810s | 1.0% | 0.6% | 0.4% | Malawi |
| 1820s | 1.0% | 0.7% | 0.3% | Malawi |
| 1830s | 1.1% | 0.9% | 0.3% | Malawi |
| 1840s | 1.3% | 1.1% | 0.2% | Malawi |
| 1850s | 1.4% | 1.4% | 0.0% | Tonga |
| 1860s | 1.5% | 1.7% | 0.2% | Tonga |
| 1870s | 1.7% | 2.2% | 0.5% | Tonga |
| 1880s | 1.8% | 2.7% | 0.9% | Tonga |
| 1890s | 2.0% | 3.4% | 1.4% | Tonga |
| 1900s | 2.2% | 4.2% | 2.1% | Tonga |
| 1910s | 2.4% | 5.3% | 2.9% | Tonga |
| 1920s | 2.6% | 6.6% | 4.0% | Tonga |
| 1930s | 2.9% | 8.2% | 5.4% | Tonga |
| 1940s | 3.1% | 10.3% | 7.2% | Tonga |
| 1950s | 3.7% | 15.6% | 11.9% | Tonga |
| 1960s | 4.6% | 19.6% | 15.0% | Tonga |
| 1970s | 7.5% | 20.3% | 12.8% | Tonga |
| 1980s | 10.1% | 21.3% | 11.2% | Tonga |
| 1990s | 13.3% | 22.7% | 9.4% | Tonga |
| 2000s | 15.1% | 23.2% | 8.1% | Tonga |
| 2010s | 15.8% | 23.1% | 7.4% | Tonga |
| 2020s | 16.9% | 21.3% | 4.4% | Tonga |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher do more people live in urban or rural areas?, Malawi or Tonga?
- Tonga, at 21.2% against 17.6% in Malawi as of 2025.
- What is the difference in do more people live in urban or rural areas? between Malawi and Tonga?
- 3.6%, with Tonga ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Malawi and Tonga?
- 108 years are reported by both, from 1000 to 2025.
- How do Malawi and Tonga rank globally for do more people live in urban or rural areas??
- Malawi ranks 232nd and Tonga ranks 229th 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.