Subscribe to ListverseTop 10 Densely Populated Nations
- Published August 30, 2007 - 49 Comments
Most of us are fortunate enough to live in countries with a lot of wide open space and a few friendly neighbours. But there are some countries that are very densely populated. This is a list of the ten most densely populated nations in the world.
1. Monaco [Wikipedia]
Monaco is the world’s most densely populated country and second-smallest independent nation; with a population of just 32,410 and an area of 1.96 square kilometers (485 acres), Monaco is the world’s smallest French-speaking sovereignty.
2. Singapore [Wikipedia]
Singapore is a highly populated island nation located on the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. A popular destination for both tourism and business, Singapore is also one of the richest countries in the world because of its highly developed economy. Singapore has been rated as the most business-friendly economy in the world, with thousands of foreign expatriates working in multi-national corporations. The city-state also employs tens of thousands of foreign blue-collared workers from around the world. With a total population density of over 6300 people per square kilometer, it ranks 2nd in the world.
3. Vatican City [Wikipedia]
Landlocked within the Italian city of Rome with approximately 44 hectares (108.7 acres), Vatican City is the smallest independent state in the world. As the center of the Catholic religion, the tiny city-state only holds about 821 citizens, but due to the small area, it is ranked 3rd in population density.
4. The Maldives [Wikipedia]
The Maldives is an island nation consisting of a group of atolls located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives’ twenty-six atolls encompass a territory featuring 1,192 islets, roughly two hundred of which are inhabited by local communities. According to a 2006 census, there is a population of 298,842 living on a total area of only 298 square kilometers.
5. Bahrain [Wikipedia]
Bahrain is a borderless island country in the Persian Gulf and is the smallest Arab nation. In a region currently experiencing an unprecedented oil boom, Bahrain has the fastest growing economy in the Arab region, which translates to a fast growing population due to immigration and guest workers from around the world. There are approximately 987 people per square kilometer on this tiny island.
6. Bangladesh [Wikipedia]
Bangladesh is small country located in South Asia almost surrounded by India. Bangladesh is among the most highly and densely populated countries in the world. With a land area of 144,000 square kilometers (55,600 sq mi), the population density is remarkable considering the fact that Russia’s entire population is slightly smaller than Bangladesh’s.
7. Nauru [Wikipedia]
Nauru is an island nation in the Micronesian South Pacific covering only 21 square kilometers, making it the world’s smallest island nation, the smallest independent republic, and the only republican state in the world without an official capital. There are about 13,048 residents living on this tiny island.
8. Taiwan [Wikipedia]
Taiwan is an island in East Asia off the coast of mainland China. After losing the Chinese Civil War in 1949, Chiang Kai-shek and about 1.3 million refugees fled mainland China to set up the Republic of China (ROC) in Taipei, Taiwan’s largest city. The political status of Taiwan is a controversial topic today, but thanks to an industrialized economy, it is one of the wealthiest and most densely populated countries in Asia.
9. Barbados [Wikipedia]
Situated east of the Caribbean Sea, Barbados is an independent island nation in the western Atlantic Ocean. The small country is a major tourist destination for vacationers from all over. Barbados’s total land area is about 430 square kilometers, and with one of the highest standards of living and literacy rates worldwide, has a relatively high population of about 279,000.
10. Malta [Wikipedia]
Malta is a small and densely populated island nation comprising an archipelago of seven islands in the Mediterranean Sea. After joining the European Union in 2004, the country has seen an increase in investments and strength of the economy. The resident population of Malta, as of 2005 was estimated at 404,039 and Malta’s population density of 1,282 per square kilometer is by far the highest in the EU and one of the highest in the world.
Contributor: Nartjai
Technorati Tags: Travel
August 30th, 2007 at 10:23 am
huh i thought china would be there
August 30th, 2007 at 10:46 am
mix: I guess it is so big that they can accommodate the numbers of people.
August 30th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
interestingly, most of these nations are also quite beautiful places to visit.
August 30th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
dal: I noticed that as I was adding the photos to the post. At least two of these nations are places on my “must holiday there” list – Monaco and the Maldives.
August 31st, 2007 at 11:46 pm
taiwan is the party capital of the world according to my dad…hes been there
September 1st, 2007 at 12:32 am
Fruckert: I hadn’t heard that – I will add it to my list of places to holiday in that case!
September 1st, 2007 at 12:58 am
it was either that or singapore…cant remember his story all the way
September 1st, 2007 at 1:06 am
Fruckert: I have been to Singapore but never left the airport. The people seemed very nice.
September 1st, 2007 at 1:13 am
like i said, i dont remember which one he said it was…but it was also the STD capital of the world…i think he said it was taiwan…might want to look it up
September 26th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
Hi Ervin!!
September 26th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
hello kristina lets have a sexy partay
September 26th, 2007 at 5:45 pm
wats up ervin!
this is so much funn lmao
November 27th, 2007 at 4:30 am
The list order I have (12) as it includes Hong Kong and Macau, is slightly different in order
Monaco
Macau
Hong Kong
Singapore
Holy See (Vatican City)
Malta
Bermuda
Maldives
Bangladesh
Bahrain
Taiwan
Barbados
January 21st, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Yeay,I’m from Singapore and yes the country is too small for too many people.And the club scene here is gd!:)
February 1st, 2008 at 3:54 am
why there’s no China?
February 5th, 2008 at 4:05 am
Monaco is one of the weirdest places i’ve ever been to! I saw more Hummers, ferarris, lamborghinis, etc then normal cars! Rich people, man…it was a beautiful place nonetheless.
February 11th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Monaco is a weird place, but also has one of the richest populations in Europe. It is tiny, and although many people live there, many rich people simply own an apartment or a house in the country, but reside somewhere else. That is the case with Ringo Starr, businessman Philip Green and was the case with ex resident model Claudia Schiffer.
March 17th, 2008 at 5:47 am
According to BBC news website (as of today) “Bangladesh has the highest population density of any nation on the planet….”. Please can anyone set the records straight?
March 26th, 2008 at 5:09 am
If the criteria for the “most densley populated country” is based on population per sq kilometer then the above list is not in order. For instance Malta @(1,282 per square kilometer) would rank in place of the Maldives @(1002.8 per square kilometer.
Can someone explain?
March 28th, 2008 at 7:49 am
I am from Singapore! Singapore has a weird mixture of races and religions. Because we need to fit a RAINFOREST (with more species of trees than the whole continent of North America) in our country and have large firing areas and other civil uses, The residents mostly live in high rise flats normally 12 or 16 storeys high, but reach 40 storeys.
OH, Singapore is the host for the Youth Olympics 2010 and one of the only two cities in the world with a tropical rainforests. We have the largest water fountain, Tallest man-made waterfalls and the world’s tallest and largest observation wheel.
April 10th, 2008 at 2:25 am
i thought like new york or something like that would be on there
May 29th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Interesting, I always thought Bangladesh was number 1, and Malta never entered my thoughts at all.
May 29th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
The Netherlands was one I thought might feature.
June 12th, 2008 at 9:29 am
In Malta we might miss large open spaces on land. But then again, we’re surrounded by the sea – which is wonderful and generally very calm. So that makes up for the lack of open land! Plus you can get everywhere (main island) in 45 mins which is such a convenient characteristic of most tiny countries.
June 27th, 2008 at 10:49 am
@han
New york is not really a country, is it?
July 7th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Thank god India’s not here..hope it never ends up on this list.
July 12th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
uvberot: If you never want India (for that matter any other nation) to be on this list then don’t thank God…use condom!
Call it sad that this list cannot ever be empty.
August 14th, 2008 at 3:15 am
Why isn’t Gibraltar in the list? 4,661 persons per sq km. which, if you took out the area that can’t be inhabited,would be even greater.
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761561831/gibraltar.html
As an aside, for a place with such a low population, less than 30,000, we have a very diverse religious population. The Chief Minister is Roman Catholic, Leader of the Opposition is Atheist, Speaker of the house is Hindu and the Mayor is Jewish.
August 23rd, 2008 at 9:03 pm
There is a resort in the Maldives that caters to your every need. They have no more than 12 guests at a time, and they research your tastes and needs. When you get there, personal service is their ticket. If you wake up at 4 in the morning and want a steak and lobster platter, you GET a steak and lobster platter. Anything you want, any time you want. Gorgeous beaches, sands, etc. Ah, well a girl can dream. I think it’s like a grand a day.
August 26th, 2008 at 3:49 am
i hate india!!!!!
v americans dont like india v hate it!!!!
August 26th, 2008 at 3:53 am
yeah thats tottaly true
August 27th, 2008 at 6:27 am
why iznt india on the list?
i mean i thought it would b there!!!
starnge its not!!
gotta b a mistake
September 17th, 2008 at 7:51 am
China?!? no way it’s bloody massive! But i thought Japan would have been on, I guess it’s so densely populated in the cities cos of the big mountains though which makes it seem less dense…
October 7th, 2008 at 9:27 am
china is the most populated country, the list is wrong cos china has over 1.3 billion people – duh!! ever heard of the one child policy?? they have it cos there’s to many people there!!!
October 7th, 2008 at 9:38 am
@Don – double duh!!!! ever heard of the term ‘density’? As in number of people per square kilometre available on land in this case? The People’s Republic of China has 1,321,851,888 people in an area of 9,640,821 km. This gives it a population density of 140/km² thus its the 53rd most densely populated country in the world according to Wikipedia. If the people are not spread out – then that’s a separate issue
October 23rd, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Imagine a nuclear bomb detonated on one of these places. Catastrophic.
November 12th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
how about tokyo~?
November 12th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
China isn’t on the list because it has lots of rural land. It’s population DENSITY not population size, ie on average how many people their in 1 sqm. Example: Vatican. Virtually all the land is for living/urban so even though it has a very small population, it has high density.
Tokyo and New York aren’t there because their CITIES.
P.S. The photo for Bangladesh is misleading – they are desperately poor.
November 13th, 2008 at 1:06 am
This is first time i hv ever seen a good picture representing my country. thanks goes to listverse.
And I dont think that the photo is misleading. because this is not the list of rich/poor nations…
December 15th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
alternate title: places i will never visit.
January 29th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
I must admit, I’m shocked at the ignorance on display in some of the comments in this list. Places like China and India may well have huge populations, but they also have massive land areas so their population densities are not huge.
April 12th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
I’m from Malta (10th most densely populated nation).
I honestly thought that I’d Malta some where between 4-7 lol.
May 18th, 2009 at 9:38 am
i did not know why malta is so small
May 27th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
“I must admit, I’m shocked at the ignorance on display in some of the comments in this list. Places like China and India may well have huge populations, but they also have massive land areas so their population densities are not huge.”
Agreed. When I see people type comments like this:
“china is the most populated country, the list is wrong cos china has over 1.3 billion people – duh!! ever heard of the one child policy?? they have it cos there’s to many people there!!!”
…I just want to smack them.
And when I see people type comments like this:
“i thought like new york or something like that would be on there”
…I just have to cry.
August 6th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Isn’t England really small? And has a large population? Australia is huge, and we have only about 20-22million people in the entire country. There is only about 4 million in New Zealand, which seems larger than England.
August 25th, 2009 at 11:40 am
ROFL EJ you clearly failed in Geography in school didn’t u? England has a population of just over 50 million people.
October 21st, 2009 at 4:18 am
Вопрос к автору блога, а вот у вас время у каждой статьи и в комментах пишется… Это какое? Московское? Заранее спасибочки за ответ.
November 18th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
I’M SURPRISED HAITI DIDN’T MAKE IT. CITE SOLEIL IS THE LOCAL SLUM THERE AND IS 200,000-300,000 PEOPLE-3 SQUARE MILES.