Metric guide
Population density by country: people relative to land.
Population density is the bridge between population and land area. It tells you how many people live per square kilometre, which can reveal countries that are small on the map but intense in settlement.
Density is not additive. Compare Countries therefore uses a gradient map, not a group-total bar, when this metric is selected.
Reading the distribution
Why small places rise to the top
Macau and Monaco lead the national and territorial averages. The first value is about 216.2 times the median published observation, a spread driven partly by very small land areas.
Density changes the question from how many people live in a country to how concentrated they are relative to land. It still hides the internal contrast between cities, farmland, mountains, deserts and other sparsely settled regions.
The strongest national concentration values
Density rankings highlight concentration, not total population. Small territories can rank very high, while large countries with major cities may look modest at the national-average level.
| Rank | Country | Value | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Macau | 20,570 people/km² | 2023 |
| 2 | Monaco | 18,693 people/km² | 2023 |
| 3 | Singapore | 8,242 people/km² | 2023 |
| 4 | Hong Kong | 7,177 people/km² | 2023 |
| 5 | Bahrain | 1,971 people/km² | 2023 |
| 6 | Maldives | 1,765 people/km² | 2023 |
| 7 | Malta | 1,727 people/km² | 2023 |
| 8 | Bangladesh | 1,319 people/km² | 2023 |
| 9 | Sint Maarten | 1,257 people/km² | 2023 |
| 10 | Bermuda | 1,198 people/km² | 2023 |
| 11 | Barbados | 657 people/km² | 2023 |
| 12 | Mauritius | 625 people/km² | 2023 |
Questions this metric can answer
- Find countries where population is concentrated relative to land area.
- Compare density alongside total population to avoid confusing scale with crowding.
- Use the full-map gradient to scan broad regional patterns.
Interpretation limits
- National density can hide huge internal variation between cities, deserts, mountains and rural areas.
- Countries with very small land areas can appear high in the ranking.
- Density should not be summed across a group.
How density combines people and land
The source observation expresses people per square kilometre. It is a national average and is kept separate from the geometry-derived land-area value used by the outline comparison.
Density is non-additive. A combined group density would require a matched population numerator and land denominator, not the sum or unweighted average of member densities.
Test the pattern on the map
Open the live map with Population density selected. Click countries, build groups or switch to another metric while keeping the same selection. For a guided starting point, read the population density example.
Source, year and coverage
Source: World Development Indicators. Coverage in this snapshot: 208 countries out of 242. Reference year: 2023.
Economic, demographic, industrial, defence, water and health indicators. Reuse note: WDI data is generally CC BY 4.0 and commercial use is allowed, but individual indicator metadata can identify third-party content with different terms.
Interpretation reviewed against the displayed snapshot on 26 September 2026. Corrections: contact@compare-countries.com.