Rural population in North America
North America: Rural population was 74.83 million in 2025. ▲ Rising
Rural population in North America, 1960–2025
Source: World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN).
Analysis
North America recorded 74.83 million for rural population in 2025. That is the highest value across all 66 years on record.
The figure is up 0.2% on the previous year and up 8.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, rural population in North America peaked at 74.83 million in 2025 and was at its lowest, 58.89 million, in 1968.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 66 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 59.33 million | 58.89 million | 59.83 million | 10 |
| 1970s | 62.31 million | 59.48 million | 65.07 million | 10 |
| 1980s | 67.02 million | 65.61 million | 67.98 million | 10 |
| 1990s | 67.30 million | 65.68 million | 68.43 million | 10 |
| 2000s | 65.29 million | 64.98 million | 65.69 million | 10 |
| 2010s | 69.06 million | 66.17 million | 72.48 million | 10 |
| 2020s | 73.94 million | 73.19 million | 74.83 million | 6 |
More agriculture & rural data for North America
- Agricultural raw materials exports 1.9% (2024)
- Agricultural raw materials imports 0.8% (2024)
- Rural population 19.5% (2025)
- Rural population growth 0.2% (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 74.83 million 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 74.83 million in 2025.
- What is the lowest rural population recorded in North America?
- The lowest recorded value was 58.89 million in 1968.
- Is rural population rising or falling in North America?
- Over the last ten years it is up 8.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this North America 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
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.