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Mapped: The Share of Each Country That Lives in Its Largest City
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Key Takeaways
- In some countries, nearly 100% of urban residents live in a single city.
- In giants like the U.S., China, and India, less than 10% live in their largest metro.
- Globally, just 16% of urban residents live in their country’s biggest city.
In some nations, one city towers over the rest. In others, populations are spread across multiple large metros with no single dominant hub.
This map shows the share of each country’s urban population living in its largest city, revealing where megacities dominate and where people are far more dispersed. The data for this map comes from the World Bank.
Globally, only 16% of urban residents live in their country’s largest city, suggesting that in most places, population and economic activity are distributed across several urban centers rather than concentrated in just one.
The Most Heavily-Concentrated Countries Worldwide
The city-state of Singapore, alongside the two Chinese special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau, top the list, while giants like China, India, Russia, and the United States see less than 10% of their population reside in their largest cities.
This data table below shows each country’s share of urban population living in the country’s largest city:
| Country | Share of urban population living in the country's largest city |
|---|---|
| Hong Kong SAR, China | 100% |
| Macao SAR, China | 100% |
| Singapore | 100% |
| Eritrea | 91% |
| Puerto Rico (U.S.) | 81% |
| Paraguay | 74% |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 74% |
| Djibouti | 71% |
| Guinea-Bissau | 68% |
| Kuwait | 68% |
| Mongolia | 68% |
| Panama | 68% |
| Congo, Rep. | 67% |
| Liberia | 56% |
| Armenia | 55% |
| Uruguay | 55% |
| North Macedonia | 54% |
| Burkina Faso | 50% |
| Mauritania | 50% |
| Israel | 49% |
| Togo | 49% |
| Georgia | 48% |
| Latvia | 48% |
| Estonia | 47% |
| Haiti | 47% |
| Bahrain | 46% |
| Lebanon | 46% |
| Moldova | 46% |
| Portugal | 46% |
| Egypt, Arab Rep. | 45% |
| Kyrgyz Republic | 45% |
| Afghanistan | 43% |
| Dominican Republic | 43% |
| Bangladesh | 42% |
| Central African Republic | 42% |
| Azerbaijan | 41% |
| Chile | 40% |
| Oman | 40% |
| Guinea | 39% |
| Madagascar | 39% |
| Mali | 39% |
| Peru | 39% |
| Albania | 38% |
| Gabon | 38% |
| Greece | 38% |
| New Zealand | 38% |
| Argentina | 37% |
| Burundi | 37% |
| Equatorial Guinea | 37% |
| Ireland | 37% |
| Sudan | 37% |
| Tajikistan | 37% |
| Angola | 36% |
| Costa Rica | 36% |
| Jamaica | 36% |
| Malawi | 36% |
| Congo, Dem. Rep. | 35% |
| Senegal | 35% |
| Cote d'Ivoire | 34% |
| Myanmar | 34% |
| Sierra Leone | 34% |
| Serbia | 34% |
| Zambia | 34% |
| Cambodia | 33% |
| Tanzania | 33% |
| United Arab Emirates | 32% |
| Finland | 32% |
| Japan | 32% |
| Malaysia | 32% |
| Namibia | 32% |
| Austria | 31% |
| Guatemala | 31% |
| Croatia | 31% |
| Kenya | 31% |
| Niger | 31% |
| Rwanda | 30% |
| Chad | 30% |
| Belarus | 29% |
| Cameroon | 29% |
| Qatar | 29% |
| Tunisia | 29% |
| Colombia | 28% |
| Ecuador | 28% |
| Gambia, The | 28% |
| Bulgaria | 27% |
| Lithuania | 27% |
| Nicaragua | 27% |
| Denmark | 26% |
| Hungary | 26% |
| Papua New Guinea | 26% |
| Saudi Arabia | 26% |
| Somalia, Fed. Rep. | 26% |
| Turkmenistan | 26% |
| Uganda | 26% |
| Cuba | 25% |
| Honduras | 25% |
| Iraq | 25% |
| Thailand | 25% |
| Viet Nam | 25% |
| Korea, Rep. | 24% |
| Lao PDR | 24% |
| Norway | 24% |
| El Salvador | 24% |
| Zimbabwe | 24% |
| Philippines | 23% |
| Yemen, Rep. | 23% |
| Australia | 22% |
| Bolivia | 22% |
| Mexico | 22% |
| Belgium | 21% |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 21% |
| France | 21% |
| Jordan | 21% |
| Turkiye | 21% |
| Canada | 19% |
| Switzerland | 19% |
| Ghana | 19% |
| Korea, Dem. People's Rep. | 19% |
| South Sudan | 19% |
| Ethiopia | 18% |
| Libya | 18% |
| Pakistan | 18% |
| Romania | 18% |
| Sweden | 18% |
| Benin | 17% |
| Czechia | 17% |
| Spain | 17% |
| United Kingdom | 17% |
| Morocco | 17% |
| West Bank and Gaza | 17% |
| European Union | 16% |
| Kazakhstan | 16% |
| South Africa | 16% |
| Mozambique | 15% |
| Slovak Republic | 15% |
| Syrian Arab Republic | 15% |
| Iran, Islamic Rep. | 14% |
| Sri Lanka | 14% |
| Uzbekistan | 14% |
| Brazil | 12% |
| Russian Federation | 12% |
| Venezuela, RB | 12% |
| Italy | 11% |
| Nigeria | 11% |
| Ukraine | 11% |
| Algeria | 8% |
| Nepal | 8% |
| Poland | 8% |
| Indonesia | 7% |
| India | 7% |
| Netherlands | 7% |
| United States | 7% |
| Germany | 5% |
| China | 3% |
Even within similar regions, there are clear gaps. Roughly a fifth of Britons, Spaniards, and Frenchmen reside in their national capitals and largest cities; in contrast, Germans and Poles are far more spread out across their countries.
Across the 27-member European Union, no subregion is more concentrated than the Baltic states: Estonia and Latvia lead the continent with 47-48% of their populations residing in the national capitals of Tallinn and Riga.
Disparate Population Distribution in the Americas
North and South America are home to some of the world’s largest cities, from São Paulo and Mexico City to New York and Toronto. Yet in each of these cases the sprawling metropolises tend to actually hold a smaller share of the citizenry than smaller capital cities such as Lima, Asuncion, or Montevideo.
For many countries in the region, such as Argentina or Colombia, post-independence history has been fraught with concerns over centralization versus decentralization.
What are Primate Cities?
The term “primate city” was first coined in 1939 by geographer Mark Jefferson to describe any city that is “at least twice as large as the next largest city and more than twice as significant” within a given country.
Modern capitals such as Algiers, Paris, Bangkok, and Buenos Aires are classic primate city case studies, serving as the economic, demographic, and social centers of their respective countries.
Countries with primate cities often see a heavy concentration of economic output, infrastructure, and internal migration in one metropolitan area. By contrast, federal systems such as Brazil, India, and the United States tend to develop multiple large cities that balance national influence.
Learn More on the Voronoi App
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