- In many countries, a large share of the population lives in the biggest city.
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30 countries where much (or most!) of the population lives in one city, like Israel, Japan, and Greece
Using population estimates from the UN, we compared countries' populations to those of their largest cities.
Many countries, like the US and China, have huge populations spread out over a vast area in dozens or hundreds of cities and towns. But in some parts of the world, the big city dominates.
The United Nations provides estimates of the populations of the world's countries and large cities . The database includes estimates for the populations of over 1,800 major urban areas with at least 300,000 residents.
We used the 2019 population estimates for the cities and countries in the database to find the share of each country's population living in its largest city. In addition to being limited to countries that include urban areas with populations over 300,000, we also excluded city-states like Singapore and sub-regions of countries, like Hong Kong, China and Puerto Rico, United States.
We found the 30 countries with the largest share of the population living in the biggest city. The countries are geographically spread out, ranging from North Macedonia in Europe to Mongolia in Asia to Argentina in South America. Most of the countries have relatively small populations, but a handful, like Japan, have populations over 100 million.
Here are the countries where a huge share of the population lives in the largest city:
30. Nouakchott, Mauritania, had a population of 1,259,000, which was 27.8% of the countrys population of 4,526,000.
Joe Penney/Reuters
29. Skopje, North Macedonia, had a population of 590,000, which was 28.3% of the countrys population of 2,083,000.
Reuters
28. Lisbon, Portugal, had a population of 2,942,000, which was 28.8% of the countrys population of 10,226,000.
Reuters
27. Dubai, United Arab Emirates, had a population of 2,833,000, which was 29.0% of the countrys population of 9,771,000.
Reuters
26. Bata, Equatorial Guinea, had a population of 395,000, which was 29.1% of the countrys population of 1,356,000.
AP Photo/Ariel Schalit
25. Tokyo, Japan, had a population of 37,435,000, which was 29.5% of the countrys population of 126,860,000.
Charly Triballeau / AFP / Getty
24. Monrovia, Liberia, had a population of 1,467,000, which was 29.7% of the countrys population of 4,937,000.
Wikimedia/CC/Erik (HASH) Hershman
23. Athens, Greece, had a population of 3,154,000, which was 30.1% of the countrys population of 10,473,000.
Associated Press
22. Bissau, Guinea-Bissau, had a population of 579,000, which was 30.1% of the countrys population of 1,921,000.
Wikimedia Commons/Nammarci
21. Muscat, Oman, had a population of 1,502,000, which was 30.2% of the countrys population of 4,975,000.
Chris Jackson/Getty
20. Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, had a population of 3,245,000, which was 30.2% of the countrys population of 10,739,000.
Shutterstock/Daniel-Alvarez
19. Lima, Peru, had a population of 10,555,000, which was 32.5% of the countrys population of 32,510,000.
Christian Vinces/Shutterstock
18. Auckland, New Zealand, had a population of 1,582,000, which was 33.1% of the countrys population of 4,783,000.
Reuters
17. Riga, Latvia, had a population of 634,000, which was 33.3% of the countrys population of 1,907,000.
Roman Babakin / Shutterstock
16. Tallinn, Estonia, had a population of 441,000, which was 33.3% of the countrys population of 1,326,000.
Jordan Mansfield/Getty
15. Buenos Aires, Argentina, had a population of 15,057,000, which was 33.6% of the countrys population of 44,781,000.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
14. Beirut, Lebanon, had a population of 2,407,000, which was 35.1% of the countrys population of 6,856,000.
Reuters
13. Santiago, Chile, had a population of 6,724,000, which was 35.5% of the countrys population of 18,952,000.
REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado
12. Manama, Bahrain, had a population of 600,000, which was 36.6% of the countrys population of 1,641,000.
Getty/Husain Abbas
11. Yerevan, Armenia, had a population of 1,083,000, which was 36.6% of the countrys population of 2,958,000.
MehmetO/Shutterstock
10. Libreville, Gabon, had a population of 824,000, which was 37.9% of the countrys population of 2,173,000.
REUTERS/Edward McAllister
9. Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, had a population of 544,000, which was 39.0% of the countrys population of 1,395,000.
Blacqbook / Shutterstock
8. Brazzaville, Congo, had a population of 2,308,000, which was 42.9% of the countrys population of 5,381,000.
AFP via Getty Images
7. Panama City, Panama, had a population of 1,822,000, which was 42.9% of the countrys population of 4,246,000.
Rodrigo Cuel/Shutterstock
6. Asuncin, Paraguay, had a population of 3,279,000, which was 46.5% of the countrys population of 7,045,000.
Jorge Saenz/AP
5. Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Israel, had a population of 4,097,000, which was 48.1% of the countrys population of 8,519,000.
REUTER/ Nir Elias
4. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, had a population of 1,553,000, which was 48.2% of the countrys population of 3,225,000.
In Pictures Ltd./Corbis via Getty Images
3. Montevideo, Uruguay, had a population of 1,745,000, which was 50.4% of the countrys population of 3,462,000.
Shutterstock
2. Djibouti, Djibouti, had a population of 569,000, which was 58.4% of the countrys population of 974,000.
DeAgostini/Getty Images
1. Kuwait City, Kuwait, had a population of 3,052,000, which was 72.5% of the countrys population of 4,207,000.
trabantos / Getty Images
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