Somalia vs Sweden: Number of people living in cities, towns and rural areas
Somalia
2.89 million people
in 2020
Sweden
3.23 million people
in 2020
Somalia rank
87th
Sweden rank
85th
Number of people living in cities, towns and rural areas over time
- Somalia
- Sweden
How they compare
Sweden currently reports 3.23 million people against 2.89 million people in Somalia, a difference of 340,870 people.
That makes Sweden's figure about 1.1 times Somalia's.
Across all 15 years both countries report, Sweden has been ahead every year.
Somalia ranks 87th and Sweden ranks 85th of 236 countries.
Sweden has averaged higher in every one of the 8 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Somalia | Sweden | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | 1.15 million people | 2.83 million people | 1.68 million people | Sweden |
| 1960s | 1.32 million people | 2.93 million people | 1.61 million people | Sweden |
| 1970s | 1.49 million people | 3.03 million people | 1.54 million people | Sweden |
| 1980s | 2.03 million people | 3.13 million people | 1.10 million people | Sweden |
| 1990s | 1.88 million people | 3.18 million people | 1.31 million people | Sweden |
| 2000s | 2.01 million people | 3.11 million people | 1.10 million people | Sweden |
| 2010s | 2.35 million people | 3.15 million people | 800,235 people | Sweden |
| 2020s | 2.89 million people | 3.23 million people | 340,870 people | Sweden |
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, Somalia or Sweden?
- Sweden, at 3.23 million people against 2.89 million people in Somalia as of 2020.
- What is the difference in number of people living in cities, towns and rural areas between Somalia and Sweden?
- 340,870 people, with Sweden ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Somalia and Sweden?
- 15 years are reported by both, from 1950 to 2020.
- How do Somalia and Sweden rank globally for number of people living in cities, towns and rural areas?
- Somalia ranks 87th and Sweden ranks 85th 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.
Individual pages
About this data
Estimated number of people living in rural areas. Rural areas are identified using satellite imagery and population data, applying the same definitions across countries.