Portugal vs Sierra Leone: Number of people living in cities, towns and rural areas

Portugal
3.06 million people
in 2020
Sierra Leone
3.35 million people
in 2020
Portugal rank
86th
Sierra Leone rank
83rd

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

  • Portugal
  • Sierra Leone
1.0M1.5M2.0M2.5M3.0M3.5M195019852020

How they compare

Sierra Leone currently reports 3.35 million people against 3.06 million people in Portugal, a difference of 290,730 people.

That makes Sierra Leone's figure about 1.1 times Portugal's.

The two have swapped places 1 time across 15 shared years of data; in 1950 it was Portugal ahead.

Portugal ranks 86th and Sierra Leone ranks 83rd of 236 countries.

Across the 8 decades both report, Portugal averaged higher in 7 and Sierra Leone in 1.

Head to head by decade

Decade Portugal Sierra Leone Difference Ahead
1950s 3.18 million people 1.06 million people 2.12 million people Portugal
1960s 3.21 million people 1.20 million people 2.02 million people Portugal
1970s 3.23 million people 1.38 million people 1.85 million people Portugal
1980s 3.31 million people 1.81 million people 1.49 million people Portugal
1990s 3.24 million people 2.25 million people 992,035 people Portugal
2000s 3.22 million people 2.50 million people 713,650 people Portugal
2010s 3.13 million people 3.07 million people 61,775 people Portugal
2020s 3.06 million people 3.35 million people 290,730 people Sierra Leone

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, Portugal or Sierra Leone?
Sierra Leone, at 3.35 million people against 3.06 million people in Portugal as of 2020.
What is the difference in number of people living in cities, towns and rural areas between Portugal and Sierra Leone?
290,730 people, with Sierra Leone ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Portugal and Sierra Leone?
15 years are reported by both, from 1950 to 2020.
How do Portugal and Sierra Leone rank globally for number of people living in cities, towns and rural areas?
Portugal ranks 86th and Sierra Leone ranks 83rd 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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Portugal vs Sierra Leone: 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 10 September 2026, from https://population.statizoid.com/compare/population-of-cities-towns-and-villages/portugal/sierra-leone/

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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/portugal/sierra-leone/">Portugal vs Sierra Leone: 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.