Rural population growth in South Asia (IDA & IBRD)
South Asia (IDA & IBRD): Rural population growth was 0.4% in 2025. ▼ Falling
Rural population growth in South Asia (IDA & IBRD), 1961–2025
Source: World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN). Measured in annual %.
Analysis
South Asia (IDA & IBRD) recorded 0.4% for rural population growth in 2025.
That represents a change of down 3.4% on the previous year and down 45.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, rural population growth in South Asia (IDA & IBRD) peaked at 2.3% in 1961 and was at its lowest, 0.3%, in 2022.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 65 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 2.1% | 1.9% | 2.3% | 9 |
| 1970s | 1.8% | 1.7% | 2.0% | 10 |
| 1980s | 2.0% | 1.8% | 2.0% | 10 |
| 1990s | 1.7% | 1.6% | 1.9% | 10 |
| 2000s | 1.1% | 0.7% | 1.5% | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.7% | 0.5% | 0.8% | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.4% | 0.3% | 0.5% | 6 |
More agriculture & rural data for South Asia (IDA & IBRD)
- Agricultural raw materials exports 1.0% (2024)
- Agricultural raw materials imports 1.6% (2024)
- Rural population 64.2% (2025)
- Rural population 1.09 billion (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 15.6% (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 714.12 billion current US$ (2025)
- Land under cereal production 119.96 million hectares (2024)
- Cereal yield 3,814 kg per hectare (2024)
- Cereal production 457.55 million metric tons (2024)
- Fertilizer consumption 206.42 kilograms per hectare of arable land (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is rural population growth in South Asia (IDA & IBRD)?
- Rural population growth in South Asia (IDA & IBRD) was 0.4% in 2025, according to World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN).
- What is the highest rural population growth recorded in South Asia (IDA & IBRD)?
- The highest recorded value was 2.3% in 1961.
- What is the lowest rural population growth recorded in South Asia (IDA & IBRD)?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.3% in 2022.
- Is rural population growth rising or falling in South Asia (IDA & IBRD)?
- Over the last ten years it is down 45.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this South Asia (IDA & IBRD) data come from?
- The figures come from World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN), published as part of Rural population growth (annual %). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 65 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Annual rural population growth rate for year t is the exponential rate of growth of midyear rural population from year t-1 to t, expressed as a percentage. Rural population refers to people living in rural areas as defined by national statistical offices. It is calculated as the difference between total population and urban population.