Papua New Guinea vs Samoa: Do more people live in urban or rural areas?
Papua New Guinea
15.8%
in 2025
Samoa
17.5%
in 2025
Papua New Guinea rank
234th
Samoa rank
233rd
Do more people live in urban or rural areas? over time
- Papua New Guinea
- Samoa
How they compare
Samoa currently reports 17.5% against 15.8% in Papua New Guinea, a difference of 1.7%.
That makes Samoa's figure about 1.1 times Papua New Guinea's.
The two have swapped places 1 time across 108 shared years of data; in 1000 it was Papua New Guinea ahead.
Papua New Guinea ranks 234th and Samoa ranks 233rd of 238 countries.
Across the 40 decades both report, Papua New Guinea averaged higher in 8 and Samoa in 32.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Papua New Guinea | Samoa | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1000s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Papua New Guinea |
| 1100s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Papua New Guinea |
| 1200s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Papua New Guinea |
| 1300s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Papua New Guinea |
| 1400s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Papua New Guinea |
| 1500s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Papua New Guinea |
| 1600s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Papua New Guinea |
| 1700s | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.1% | Papua New Guinea |
| 1710s | 0.0% | 0.3% | 0.3% | Samoa |
| 1720s | 0.0% | 0.4% | 0.3% | Samoa |
| 1730s | 0.0% | 0.4% | 0.4% | Samoa |
| 1740s | 0.0% | 0.5% | 0.5% | Samoa |
| 1750s | 0.1% | 0.6% | 0.5% | Samoa |
| 1760s | 0.1% | 0.7% | 0.6% | Samoa |
| 1770s | 0.1% | 0.8% | 0.7% | Samoa |
| 1780s | 0.1% | 0.9% | 0.9% | Samoa |
| 1790s | 0.1% | 1.1% | 1.0% | Samoa |
| 1800s | 0.1% | 1.3% | 1.2% | Samoa |
| 1810s | 0.1% | 1.5% | 1.4% | Samoa |
| 1820s | 0.2% | 1.7% | 1.6% | Samoa |
| 1830s | 0.2% | 2.0% | 1.8% | Samoa |
| 1840s | 0.2% | 2.4% | 2.1% | Samoa |
| 1850s | 0.3% | 2.8% | 2.5% | Samoa |
| 1860s | 0.3% | 3.2% | 2.9% | Samoa |
| 1870s | 0.3% | 3.8% | 3.4% | Samoa |
| 1880s | 0.4% | 4.4% | 4.0% | Samoa |
| 1890s | 0.5% | 5.1% | 4.6% | Samoa |
| 1900s | 0.5% | 6.0% | 5.4% | Samoa |
| 1910s | 0.6% | 7.0% | 6.3% | Samoa |
| 1920s | 0.7% | 8.1% | 7.4% | Samoa |
| 1930s | 0.9% | 9.5% | 8.6% | Samoa |
| 1940s | 1.0% | 11.0% | 10.0% | Samoa |
| 1950s | 2.2% | 16.8% | 14.6% | Samoa |
| 1960s | 5.6% | 19.3% | 13.7% | Samoa |
| 1970s | 12.3% | 20.9% | 8.6% | Samoa |
| 1980s | 14.1% | 20.8% | 6.8% | Samoa |
| 1990s | 14.4% | 21.5% | 7.0% | Samoa |
| 2000s | 13.1% | 21.3% | 8.2% | Samoa |
| 2010s | 13.3% | 19.2% | 5.9% | Samoa |
| 2020s | 14.9% | 17.6% | 2.7% | Samoa |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher do more people live in urban or rural areas?, Papua New Guinea or Samoa?
- Samoa, at 17.5% against 15.8% in Papua New Guinea as of 2025.
- What is the difference in do more people live in urban or rural areas? between Papua New Guinea and Samoa?
- 1.7%, with Samoa ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Papua New Guinea and Samoa?
- 108 years are reported by both, from 1000 to 2025.
- How do Papua New Guinea and Samoa rank globally for do more people live in urban or rural areas??
- Papua New Guinea ranks 234th and Samoa ranks 233rd 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.