Pillar
Socio-economic overview
Sub-pillar
Demographics
Portal Indicator name
Population, Rural
Metrics
Population
Dimension
Rural
Output type
%
Input metric (short definition)
Rural population (% of total population)
Aggregration
Weighted average
Periodicity
Annual
Long definition
Rural population refers to people living in rural areas as defined by national statistical offices. It is calculated as the difference between total population and urban
Methodology
The rural population is calculated as the difference between the total population and the urban population. Rural population is approximated as the midyear nonurban population. While a practical means of identifying the rural population, it is not a precise measure.
The United Nations Population Division and other agencies provide current population estimates for developing countries that lack recent census data and pre- and post-census estimates for countries with census data.
The United Nations Population Division and other agencies provide current population estimates for developing countries that lack recent census data and pre- and post-census estimates for countries with census data.
Limitations
Aggregation of urban and rural population may not add up to total population because of different country coverage. There is no consistent and universally accepted standard for distinguishing urban from rural areas, in part because of the wide variety of situations across countries.
Estimates of the world's urban population would change significantly if China, India, and a few other populous nations were to change their definition of urban centers.
Because the estimates of city and metropolitan area are based on national definitions of what constitutes a city or metropolitan area, cross-country comparisons should be made with caution. To estimate urban populations, UN ratios of urban to total population were applied to the World Bank's estimates of total population.
Estimates of the world's urban population would change significantly if China, India, and a few other populous nations were to change their definition of urban centers.
Because the estimates of city and metropolitan area are based on national definitions of what constitutes a city or metropolitan area, cross-country comparisons should be made with caution. To estimate urban populations, UN ratios of urban to total population were applied to the World Bank's estimates of total population.
License
CC BY-4.0
Source
World Bank
Regional aggregrational method
Weighted average
Regional aggregrational calculation
sum of all individual (country data point*country population)/sum of all individual country populations)*100
Data Source