Rural population in High income

High income: Rural population was 281.21 million in 2025. ▼ Falling

Latest (2025)
281.21 million
Change on year
down 0.2%
All-time high
350.69 million
in 1960
All-time low
280.58 million
in 2011
Years of data
66
1960–2025

Rural population in High income, 1960–2025

0100.0M200.0M300.0M400.0M196019922025

Source: World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN).

Analysis

In 2025, rural population in High income stood at 281.21 million.

The figure is down 0.2% on the previous year and down 0.1% over ten years.

Over the whole period, rural population in High income peaked at 350.69 million in 1960 and was at its lowest, 280.58 million, in 2011.

The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 66 years of available data.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1960s 342.70 million 332.55 million 350.69 million 10
1970s 323.75 million 318.44 million 330.61 million 10
1980s 313.10 million 308.27 million 317.40 million 10
1990s 305.12 million 301.10 million 307.69 million 10
2000s 289.67 million 281.92 million 299.81 million 10
2010s 281.46 million 280.58 million 282.31 million 10
2020s 281.42 million 280.94 million 282.28 million 6

More agriculture & rural data for High income

All data for High income →

Frequently asked questions

What is rural population in High income?
Rural population in High income was 281.21 million in 2025, according to World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN).
What is the highest rural population recorded in High income?
The highest recorded value was 350.69 million in 1960.
What is the lowest rural population recorded in High income?
The lowest recorded value was 280.58 million in 2011.
Is rural population rising or falling in High income?
Over the last ten years it is down 0.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
Where does this High income data come from?
The figures come from World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN), published as part of Rural 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

Indicator
Rural population
Source
World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN)
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
264 places, 17,394 data points, 1960–2025
Last refreshed

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. Aggregation of urban and rural population may not add up to total population because of different country coverages.