Mexico vs Spain: Do more people live in urban or rural areas?
Mexico
80.0%
in 2025
Spain
80.5%
in 2025
Mexico rank
70th
Spain rank
67th
Do more people live in urban or rural areas? over time
- Mexico
- Spain
How they compare
Spain currently reports 80.5% against 80.0% in Mexico, a difference of 0.5%.
Across all 108 years both countries report, Spain has been ahead every year.
Mexico ranks 70th and Spain ranks 67th of 238 countries.
Spain has averaged higher in every one of the 40 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Mexico | Spain | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1000s | 0.0% | 13.5% | 13.5% | Spain |
| 1100s | 0.0% | 16.4% | 16.4% | Spain |
| 1200s | 0.0% | 13.2% | 13.2% | Spain |
| 1300s | 0.0% | 36.2% | 36.2% | Spain |
| 1400s | 0.1% | 23.3% | 23.2% | Spain |
| 1500s | 0.2% | 13.8% | 13.6% | Spain |
| 1600s | 0.5% | 17.1% | 16.5% | Spain |
| 1700s | 1.6% | 20.3% | 18.7% | Spain |
| 1710s | 1.7% | 20.5% | 18.8% | Spain |
| 1720s | 2.0% | 20.7% | 18.8% | Spain |
| 1730s | 2.2% | 21.0% | 18.7% | Spain |
| 1740s | 2.6% | 21.2% | 18.6% | Spain |
| 1750s | 2.9% | 21.4% | 18.5% | Spain |
| 1760s | 3.3% | 21.0% | 17.7% | Spain |
| 1770s | 3.8% | 20.6% | 16.8% | Spain |
| 1780s | 4.4% | 20.3% | 15.9% | Spain |
| 1790s | 5.0% | 19.9% | 14.9% | Spain |
| 1800s | 5.7% | 19.5% | 13.8% | Spain |
| 1810s | 6.5% | 21.7% | 15.1% | Spain |
| 1820s | 7.4% | 23.8% | 16.4% | Spain |
| 1830s | 8.5% | 26.0% | 17.5% | Spain |
| 1840s | 9.7% | 28.1% | 18.4% | Spain |
| 1850s | 11.1% | 30.3% | 19.2% | Spain |
| 1860s | 12.7% | 32.4% | 19.7% | Spain |
| 1870s | 14.5% | 34.6% | 20.1% | Spain |
| 1880s | 16.6% | 36.7% | 20.1% | Spain |
| 1890s | 19.0% | 38.9% | 19.9% | Spain |
| 1900s | 21.7% | 41.0% | 19.4% | Spain |
| 1910s | 24.8% | 43.2% | 18.4% | Spain |
| 1920s | 28.3% | 45.3% | 17.0% | Spain |
| 1930s | 32.3% | 47.5% | 15.2% | Spain |
| 1940s | 37.0% | 49.7% | 12.7% | Spain |
| 1950s | 46.3% | 53.6% | 7.3% | Spain |
| 1960s | 54.5% | 60.7% | 6.2% | Spain |
| 1970s | 62.5% | 68.7% | 6.3% | Spain |
| 1980s | 68.8% | 73.2% | 4.4% | Spain |
| 1990s | 73.1% | 75.5% | 2.4% | Spain |
| 2000s | 76.1% | 77.1% | 1.1% | Spain |
| 2010s | 77.2% | 79.1% | 1.9% | Spain |
| 2020s | 79.3% | 80.1% | 0.7% | Spain |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher do more people live in urban or rural areas?, Mexico or Spain?
- Spain, at 80.5% against 80.0% in Mexico as of 2025.
- What is the difference in do more people live in urban or rural areas? between Mexico and Spain?
- 0.5%, with Spain ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Mexico and Spain?
- 108 years are reported by both, from 1000 to 2025.
- How do Mexico and Spain rank globally for do more people live in urban or rural areas??
- Mexico ranks 70th and Spain ranks 67th 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.