Share of population living in urban areas in Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau: Share of population living in urban areas was 54.9% in 2020. ▲ Rising
Share of population living in urban areas in Guinea-Bissau, 1950–2020
Source: European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
The most recent figure for share of population living in urban areas in Guinea-Bissau is 54.9%, measured in 2020. That is the highest value across all 15 years on record.
That represents a change of up 5.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of population living in urban areas in Guinea-Bissau peaked at 54.9% in 2020 and was at its lowest, 39.4%, in 1970.
Guinea-Bissau ranks 195th of 236 countries on this measure, in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 15 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | 42.8% | 42.7% | 43.0% | 2 |
| 1960s | 41.3% | 40.7% | 41.9% | 2 |
| 1970s | 39.8% | 39.4% | 40.3% | 2 |
| 1980s | 41.4% | 41.4% | 41.4% | 2 |
| 1990s | 45.1% | 44.0% | 46.2% | 2 |
| 2000s | 49.3% | 48.4% | 50.2% | 2 |
| 2010s | 53.2% | 52.2% | 54.2% | 2 |
| 2020s | 54.9% | 54.9% | 54.9% | 1 |
Countries ranked near Guinea-Bissau
More reference data data for Guinea-Bissau
- Temperature anomalies by month 0.1558 °C (2026)
- Spring temperature anomalies 0.0461 °C (2026)
- Summer temperature anomalies 0.1951 °C (2026)
- Elected parliament 0 (2025)
- Universal right to vote in practice 0 (2025)
- Men's universal right to vote 1 (2025)
- Competitive elections 0 (2025)
- Democracy 0 (2025)
- Autumn temperature anomalies -0.0727 °C (2025)
- Winter temperature anomalies -0.6203 °C (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of population living in urban areas in Guinea-Bissau?
- Share of population living in urban areas in Guinea-Bissau was 54.9% in 2020, according to European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest share of population living in urban areas recorded in Guinea-Bissau?
- The highest recorded value was 54.9% in 2020.
- What is the lowest share of population living in urban areas recorded in Guinea-Bissau?
- The lowest recorded value was 39.4% in 1970.
- How does Guinea-Bissau rank for share of population living in urban areas?
- Guinea-Bissau ranks 195th out of 236 countries with data for 2020.
- Is share of population living in urban areas rising or falling in Guinea-Bissau?
- Over the last ten years it is up 5.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Guinea-Bissau data come from?
- The figures come from European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Share of population living in urban areas. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 15 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Estimated share of the population living in urban areas (the sum of cities and towns and suburbs). Urban areas are identified using satellite imagery and population data, applying the same definitions across countries.