Cameroon vs Malawi: Number of people living in cities, towns and rural areas

Cameroon
6.77 million people
in 2020
Malawi
6.96 million people
in 2020
Cameroon rank
50th
Malawi rank
49th

Number of people living in cities, towns and rural areas over time

  • Cameroon
  • Malawi
2.0M4.0M6.0M8.0M195019852020

How they compare

Malawi currently reports 6.96 million people against 6.77 million people in Cameroon, a difference of 188,790 people.

Across all 15 years both countries report, Malawi has been ahead every year.

Cameroon ranks 50th and Malawi ranks 49th of 236 countries.

Malawi has averaged higher in every one of the 8 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade Cameroon Malawi Difference Ahead
1950s 1.84 million people 2.86 million people 1.02 million people Malawi
1960s 2.09 million people 3.46 million people 1.37 million people Malawi
1970s 2.42 million people 4.27 million people 1.84 million people Malawi
1980s 3.04 million people 5.38 million people 2.34 million people Malawi
1990s 3.81 million people 6.41 million people 2.60 million people Malawi
2000s 4.50 million people 6.84 million people 2.34 million people Malawi
2010s 5.59 million people 7.00 million people 1.41 million people Malawi
2020s 6.77 million people 6.96 million people 188,790 people Malawi

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher number of people living in cities, towns and rural areas, Cameroon or Malawi?
Malawi, at 6.96 million people against 6.77 million people in Cameroon as of 2020.
What is the difference in number of people living in cities, towns and rural areas between Cameroon and Malawi?
188,790 people, with Malawi ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Cameroon and Malawi?
15 years are reported by both, from 1950 to 2020.
How do Cameroon and Malawi rank globally for number of people living in cities, towns and rural areas?
Cameroon ranks 50th and Malawi ranks 49th of 236 countries.
Where does this data come from?
European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as Number of people living in cities, towns and rural areas. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

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Cameroon vs Malawi: Number of people living in cities, towns and rural areas. Statizoid, drawing on European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Retrieved 30 August 2026, from https://population.statizoid.com/compare/population-of-cities-towns-and-villages/cameroon/malawi/

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Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://population.statizoid.com/compare/population-of-cities-towns-and-villages/cameroon/malawi/">Cameroon vs Malawi: Number of people living in cities, towns and rural areas</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Number of people living in cities, towns and rural areas
Unit
people
Source
European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
236 places, 3,540 data points, 1950–2020
Last refreshed

Estimated number of people living in rural areas. Rural areas are identified using satellite imagery and population data, applying the same definitions across countries.