Sri Lanka vs Tonga: Do more people live in urban or rural areas?
Sri Lanka
20.5%
in 2025
Tonga
21.2%
in 2025
Sri Lanka rank
230th
Tonga rank
229th
Do more people live in urban or rural areas? over time
- Sri Lanka
- Tonga
How they compare
Tonga currently reports 21.2% against 20.5% in Sri Lanka, a difference of 0.7%.
The two have swapped places 3 times across 108 shared years of data; in 1000 it was Sri Lanka ahead.
Sri Lanka ranks 230th and Tonga ranks 229th of 238 countries.
Across the 40 decades both report, Sri Lanka averaged higher in 35 and Tonga in 5.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Sri Lanka | Tonga | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1000s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Sri Lanka |
| 1100s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Sri Lanka |
| 1200s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Sri Lanka |
| 1300s | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Sri Lanka |
| 1400s | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.1% | Sri Lanka |
| 1500s | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0.2% | Sri Lanka |
| 1600s | 0.5% | 0.0% | 0.5% | Sri Lanka |
| 1700s | 1.6% | 0.1% | 1.5% | Sri Lanka |
| 1710s | 1.8% | 0.1% | 1.7% | Sri Lanka |
| 1720s | 2.0% | 0.1% | 1.9% | Sri Lanka |
| 1730s | 2.1% | 0.1% | 2.0% | Sri Lanka |
| 1740s | 2.3% | 0.1% | 2.2% | Sri Lanka |
| 1750s | 2.6% | 0.1% | 2.4% | Sri Lanka |
| 1760s | 2.8% | 0.2% | 2.6% | Sri Lanka |
| 1770s | 3.1% | 0.2% | 2.8% | Sri Lanka |
| 1780s | 3.4% | 0.3% | 3.1% | Sri Lanka |
| 1790s | 3.7% | 0.4% | 3.3% | Sri Lanka |
| 1800s | 4.0% | 0.5% | 3.6% | Sri Lanka |
| 1810s | 4.4% | 0.6% | 3.9% | Sri Lanka |
| 1820s | 4.9% | 0.7% | 4.1% | Sri Lanka |
| 1830s | 5.3% | 0.9% | 4.4% | Sri Lanka |
| 1840s | 5.8% | 1.1% | 4.7% | Sri Lanka |
| 1850s | 6.4% | 1.4% | 5.0% | Sri Lanka |
| 1860s | 7.0% | 1.7% | 5.3% | Sri Lanka |
| 1870s | 7.7% | 2.2% | 5.5% | Sri Lanka |
| 1880s | 8.4% | 2.7% | 5.7% | Sri Lanka |
| 1890s | 9.2% | 3.4% | 5.8% | Sri Lanka |
| 1900s | 10.1% | 4.2% | 5.8% | Sri Lanka |
| 1910s | 11.0% | 5.3% | 5.7% | Sri Lanka |
| 1920s | 12.1% | 6.6% | 5.5% | Sri Lanka |
| 1930s | 13.2% | 8.2% | 5.0% | Sri Lanka |
| 1940s | 14.5% | 10.3% | 4.2% | Sri Lanka |
| 1950s | 15.8% | 15.6% | 0.3% | Sri Lanka |
| 1960s | 19.7% | 19.6% | 0.1% | Sri Lanka |
| 1970s | 22.2% | 20.3% | 1.9% | Sri Lanka |
| 1980s | 20.3% | 21.3% | 1.0% | Tonga |
| 1990s | 16.2% | 22.7% | 6.5% | Tonga |
| 2000s | 15.3% | 23.2% | 7.9% | Tonga |
| 2010s | 18.6% | 23.1% | 4.5% | Tonga |
| 2020s | 20.1% | 21.3% | 1.2% | 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?, Sri Lanka or Tonga?
- Tonga, at 21.2% against 20.5% in Sri Lanka as of 2025.
- What is the difference in do more people live in urban or rural areas? between Sri Lanka and Tonga?
- 0.7%, with Tonga ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Sri Lanka and Tonga?
- 108 years are reported by both, from 1000 to 2025.
- How do Sri Lanka and Tonga rank globally for do more people live in urban or rural areas??
- Sri Lanka ranks 230th 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.