Where Data Tells the Story
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Some of the most densely packed places on earth are actually small countries. Population density is a powerful metric to know how people live, not just how many there are, but also how closely they live together.
While many assume the most populated nations are the most crowded, the reality is that territorial size plays a huge role. Here's a look at the countries packing the most people into each square kilometer.
Macau(Macao) and Monaco, both microstates, top the list by a wide margin. Despite their small size, they house thousands of residents per square kilometer .
Macau, a specially administered region in China has an area of 23.8 square kilometers and population density of around 22,000 per square kilometers.
Monaco is located on France's Mediterranean cost and measure just 2.02 square kilometers. Around 19,000 thousand people are squeezed in per square kilometer.
Singapore is the third most densely populated country, with an average of around 8,000 people per square kilometer. Its land area is around 710 square kilometers and a total population of around 5.9 million, much larger than Macau and Monaco.
Hong Kong has land area of around 1,100 square kilometers and population of around 7.4 million. Its population density is around 7,000 people per square kilometer.
These density packed countries are all small in land area, urban and coastal, with strong economies and high standards of living.
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory, in the south of Spain. It has a population density of around 6,000 people per square kilometers.
Bahrain is a small island country situated on the east of Saudi Arabia very close to Qatar. It has around 2,000 people living per square kilometers.
High density encourages smarter urban design and better use of space.