Rural population in North America
North America: Rural population was 19.5% in 2025. ▼ Falling
Rural population in North America, 1960–2025
Source: World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN). Measured in % of total population.
Analysis
North America recorded 19.5% for rural population in 2025.
That represents a change of down 0.4% on the previous year and up 0.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, rural population in North America peaked at 30.1% in 1960 and was at its lowest, 19.3%, in 2011.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 66 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 28.0% | 26.4% | 30.1% | 10 |
| 1970s | 26.2% | 26.1% | 26.3% | 10 |
| 1980s | 25.5% | 24.8% | 26.1% | 10 |
| 1990s | 23.0% | 21.2% | 24.6% | 10 |
| 2000s | 20.0% | 19.3% | 21.0% | 10 |
| 2010s | 19.4% | 19.3% | 19.7% | 10 |
| 2020s | 19.7% | 19.5% | 19.8% | 6 |
More agriculture & rural data for North America
- Agricultural raw materials exports 1.9% (2024)
- Agricultural raw materials imports 0.8% (2024)
- Rural population growth 0.2% (2025)
- Rural population 74.83 million (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 1.0% (2021)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 256.06 billion current US$ (2021)
- Land under cereal production 54.08 million hectares (2024)
- Cereal yield 8,414 kg per hectare (2024)
- Cereal production 454.99 million metric tons (2024)
- Fertilizer consumption 128.81 kilograms per hectare of arable land (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is rural population in North America?
- Rural population in North America was 19.5% in 2025, according to World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN).
- What is the highest rural population recorded in North America?
- The highest recorded value was 30.1% in 1960.
- What is the lowest rural population recorded in North America?
- The lowest recorded value was 19.3% in 2011.
- Is rural population rising or falling in North America?
- Over the last ten years it is up 0.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this North America data come from?
- The figures come from World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN), published as part of Rural population (% of total population). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 66 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
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.