Share of urban population APAC 2023, by country

Macao, Singapore, and Hong Kong all had completely urban populations in 2023, with one hundred percent of the respective territory's populations living in urban areas. Contrastingly, just around 13.7 percent of Papua New Guinea’s population were living in urban areas in 2023.

APAC’s rural population

Despite the increasing development of new industries across the Asia-Pacific region, many countries across the region still had predominantly rural populations. However, with the agriculture sector displaying little growth throughout the Asia Pacific region, the rural populations throughout the region have also experienced little growth or have even declined. This was likely due to citizens migrating from rural to urban areas.

Growing urbanization 

With the emergence of new economies and an increasing focus on industrialization throughout the Asia Pacific region, citizens have flocked to the cities and urban areas in hopes of better employment and salary opportunities. The migration of citizens has naturally resulted in bigger urban populations and has catalyzed the emergence of megacities throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Urbanization is expected to grow throughout the coming years, with urban populations in the ASEAN region forecasted to grow by 2025.