Which has higher rural population, Democratic Republic of Congo or Zambia?

Democratic Republic of Congo, at 54.9% against 54.1% in Zambia as of 2025.

What is the difference in rural population between Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia?

0.8%, with Democratic Republic of Congo ahead.

How many years of comparable data are there for Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia?

66 years are reported by both, from 1960 to 2025.

Where does this data come from?

World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN), published as Rural population (% of total population). Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Democratic Republic of Congo vs Zambia: Rural population (% of total population) (Rural World Urbanization)

Democratic Republic of Congo

54.9%

in 2025

Zambia

54.1%

in 2025

Democratic Republic of Congo rank

57th

Zambia rank

59th

Rural population (% of total population) (Rural World Urbanization) over time

Democratic Republic of Congo
Zambia

How they compare

Democratic Republic of Congo currently reports 54.9% against 54.1% in Zambia, a difference of 0.8%.

The two have swapped places 3 times across 66 shared years of data; in 1960 it was Zambia ahead.

Democratic Republic of Congo ranks 57th and Zambia ranks 59th of 218 countries.

Across the 7 decades both report, Democratic Republic of Congo averaged higher in 6 and Zambia in 1.

Head to head by decade

Decade	Democratic Republic of Congo	Zambia	Difference	Ahead
1960s	77.0%	77.3%	0.3%	Zambia
1970s	74.8%	64.2%	10.6%	Democratic Republic of Congo
1980s	71.7%	60.3%	11.4%	Democratic Republic of Congo
1990s	67.7%	61.8%	5.9%	Democratic Republic of Congo
2000s	62.9%	62.7%	0.2%	Democratic Republic of Congo
2010s	58.9%	58.3%	0.6%	Democratic Republic of Congo
2020s	55.8%	55.1%	0.7%	Democratic Republic of Congo

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher rural population, Democratic Republic of Congo or Zambia?: Democratic Republic of Congo, at 54.9% against 54.1% in Zambia as of 2025.
What is the difference in rural population between Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia?: 0.8%, with Democratic Republic of Congo ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia?: 66 years are reported by both, from 1960 to 2025.
How do Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia rank globally for rural population?: Democratic Republic of Congo ranks 57th and Zambia ranks 59th of 218 countries.
Where does this data come from?: World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN), published as Rural population (% of total population). Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Democratic Republic of Congo vs Zambia: Rural population. Statizoid, drawing on World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN). Retrieved 23 October 2026, from https://agriculture.statizoid.com/compare/rural-population-percent-of-total-population/congo-dem-rep/zambia/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://agriculture.statizoid.com/compare/rural-population-percent-of-total-population/congo-dem-rep/zambia/">Democratic Republic of Congo vs Zambia: Rural population</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator: Rural population (% of total population)
Unit: % of total population
Source: World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN)
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage: 266 places, 17,556 data points, 1960–2025
Last refreshed: 15 October 2026

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 population.