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We converted these values to people. These estimates follow national definitions to preserve continuity with official statistics and earlier editions of the UN World Urbanization Prospects.","type":"float","grapherConfigIdETL":"019c89e6-17d5-7dac-9749-5daa56438843","dataChecksum":"5629500350178265625","metadataChecksum":"2648513159396835933","datasetName":"World Urbanization Prospects 2025 - Urban and Rural Population by National Definition","updatePeriodDays":365,"datasetVersion":"2026-02-17","nonRedistributable":false,"display":{"name":"Rural","unit":"people","isProjection":false,"numDecimalPlaces":0},"schemaVersion":2,"processingLevel":"minor","presentation":{"titlePublic":"Rural population","titleVariant":"UN national definitions","topicTagsLinks":["Urbanization"]},"descriptionKey":["Countries classify areas as urban or rural using their own criteria, such as administrative boundaries, population size or density, economic activity, or some combination of these. As a result, similar settlements can be classified differently across countries.","Definitions can also change within a country over time, creating breaks in the series that reflect reclassification rather than real changes in where people live.","The [Degree of Urbanization (DEGURBA)](https://human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu/degurbaDefinitions.php) classifies settlements by population density and size using harmonized definitions across countries, making it better suited for cross-country comparisons. Our charts using [DEGURBA data](https://ourworldindata.org/search?datasetProducts=Global+Human+Settlement+Layer+Dataset) use this harmonized standard."],"origins":[{"id":12555,"titleSnapshot":"World Urbanization Prospects 2025 - Urban and Rural Population (File 14)","title":"World Urbanization Prospects 2025 - Urban and Rural Population by National Definition","descriptionSnapshot":"File 14 contains population data by national urban definition. Data are presented in three sheets: Rural, Urban, and Total population, with values in thousands for each year from 1950 to 2050.","description":"Population estimates and projections for urban and rural areas based on national definitions of urban areas. The dataset provides population data in thousands at mid-year by region, subregion, country and area from 1950 to 2050.\n\nNational definitions of \"urban\" vary considerably from country to country. Criteria such as population size, population density, type of economic activity, physical characteristics, level of infrastructure, or a combination of these may be used to define urban areas.","producer":"United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division","citationFull":"United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2025). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2025 Revision, Online Edition. POP/DB/WUP/Rev.2025/F14","urlMain":"https://population.un.org/wup/","urlDownload":"https://population.un.org/wup/assets/Download/Countries%20and%20Aggregates/WUP2025-F14-National-Definitions_Pop_by_category.xlsx","dateAccessed":"2026-02-17","datePublished":"2025","license":{"url":"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/","name":"CC BY 3.0 IGO"}}]}