Rural population in Somalia
Somalia: Rural population was 8.82 million in 2025. ▲ Rising
Rural population in Somalia, 1960–2025
Source: World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN).
Analysis
The most recent figure for rural population in Somalia is 8.82 million, measured in 2025. That is the highest value across all 66 years on record.
The figure is up 2.2% on the previous year and up 13.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, rural population in Somalia peaked at 8.82 million in 2025 and was at its lowest, 2.37 million, in 1960.
That places Somalia 64th out of 215 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 66 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 2.59 million | 2.37 million | 2.82 million | 10 |
| 1970s | 3.22 million | 2.87 million | 4.00 million | 10 |
| 1980s | 4.74 million | 4.34 million | 5.17 million | 10 |
| 1990s | 5.06 million | 4.54 million | 5.72 million | 10 |
| 2000s | 6.74 million | 5.92 million | 7.43 million | 10 |
| 2010s | 7.63 million | 7.44 million | 7.76 million | 10 |
| 2020s | 8.37 million | 7.94 million | 8.82 million | 6 |
Countries ranked near Somalia
More agriculture & rural data for Somalia
- Agricultural raw materials exports 0.7% (1982)
- Agricultural raw materials imports 7.1% (1982)
- Rural population 44.9% (2025)
- Rural population growth 2.2% (2025)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 55.8% (1990)
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added 575.39 million current US$ (1990)
- Land under cereal production 353,642 hectares (2023)
- Cereal yield 503.5 kg per hectare (2023)
- Cereal production 178,060 metric tons (2023)
- Fertilizer consumption 0.1292 kilograms per hectare of arable land (2022)
Frequently asked questions
- What is rural population in Somalia?
- Rural population in Somalia was 8.82 million in 2025, according to World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN).
- What is the highest rural population recorded in Somalia?
- The highest recorded value was 8.82 million in 2025.
- What is the lowest rural population recorded in Somalia?
- The lowest recorded value was 2.37 million in 1960.
- How does Somalia rank for rural population?
- Somalia ranks 64th out of 215 countries with data for 2025.
- Is rural population rising or falling in Somalia?
- Over the last ten years it is up 13.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Somalia 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.