Rural population in OECD members
OECD members: Rural population was 262.00 million in 2025. ▼ Falling
Rural population in OECD members, 1960–2025
Source: World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN).
Analysis
In 2025, rural population in OECD members stood at 262.00 million. That is the lowest value across all 66 years on record.
That represents a change of down 0.3% on the previous year and down 0.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, rural population in OECD members peaked at 310.95 million in 1961 and was at its lowest, 262.00 million, in 2025.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 66 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 308.69 million | 304.56 million | 310.95 million | 10 |
| 1970s | 303.61 million | 302.99 million | 304.40 million | 10 |
| 1980s | 303.55 million | 301.64 million | 304.51 million | 10 |
| 1990s | 298.73 million | 294.45 million | 301.44 million | 10 |
| 2000s | 283.20 million | 275.45 million | 293.31 million | 10 |
| 2010s | 267.37 million | 262.86 million | 274.61 million | 10 |
| 2020s | 262.79 million | 262.00 million | 263.75 million | 6 |
More agriculture & rural data for OECD members
- Agricultural raw materials exports 1.3% (2024)
- Agricultural raw materials imports 1.1% (2024)
- Rural population 18.7% (2025)
- Rural population growth -0.3% (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 1.4% (2024)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 977.64 billion current US$ (2024)
- Land under cereal production 107.04 million hectares (2024)
- Cereal yield 6,225 kg per hectare (2024)
- Cereal production 666.29 million metric tons (2024)
- Fertilizer consumption 132.27 kilograms per hectare of arable land (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is rural population in OECD members?
- Rural population in OECD members was 262.00 million in 2025, according to World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN).
- What is the highest rural population recorded in OECD members?
- The highest recorded value was 310.95 million in 1961.
- What is the lowest rural population recorded in OECD members?
- The lowest recorded value was 262.00 million in 2025.
- Is rural population rising or falling in OECD members?
- Over the last ten years it is down 0.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this OECD members 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.