Rural population in Libya

Libya: Rural population was 901,647 in 2025. ▼ Falling

Latest (2025)
901,647
Change on year
up 0.8%
World rank
134th
of 215 countries
All-time high
1.34 million
in 1965
All-time low
681,632
in 2002
Years of data
66
1960–2025

Rural population in Libya, 1960–2025

0500.0k1.0M1.5M196019922025

Source: World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN).

Analysis

Libya recorded 901,647 for rural population in 2025.

That represents a change of up 0.8% on the previous year and up 13.3% over ten years.

Over the whole period, rural population in Libya peaked at 1.34 million in 1965 and was at its lowest, 681,632, in 2002.

That places Libya 134th out of 215 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the middle of the range.

The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 66 years of available data.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1960s 1.26 million 1.15 million 1.34 million 10
1970s 1.01 million 983,264 1.13 million 10
1980s 943,597 879,680 1.02 million 10
1990s 781,419 703,223 863,428 10
2000s 704,789 681,632 755,434 10
2010s 789,393 737,021 846,496 10
2020s 880,941 857,578 901,647 6

Countries ranked near Libya

  1. 131 Slovenia 937,832 compare
  2. 132 Norway 921,833 compare
  3. 133 Eswatini 920,507 compare
  4. 135 Lithuania 893,162 compare
  5. 136 Israel 852,511 compare
  6. 137 New Zealand 852,066 compare

See the full ranking of 264 places →

More agriculture & rural data for Libya

All data for Libya →

Frequently asked questions

What is rural population in Libya?
Rural population in Libya was 901,647 in 2025, according to World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN).
What is the highest rural population recorded in Libya?
The highest recorded value was 1.34 million in 1965.
What is the lowest rural population recorded in Libya?
The lowest recorded value was 681,632 in 2002.
How does Libya rank for rural population?
Libya ranks 134th out of 215 countries with data for 2025.
Is rural population rising or falling in Libya?
Over the last ten years it is up 13.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
Where does this Libya data come from?
The figures come from World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN), published as part of Rural population. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 66 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).

About this data

Indicator
Rural population
Source
World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN)
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
264 places, 17,394 data points, 1960–2025
Last refreshed

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. Aggregation of urban and rural population may not add up to total population because of different country coverages.