‘Hong Kong’ and ‘high-density living’ are terms that are often used in the same breath – regularly in a negative context – but it turns out, there are places around the world that struggle with extremely high population density even more than we do.
A new infographic by Visual Capitalist has ranked Macau as the most densely populated area in the world, far outstripping other global jurisdictions on the list to claim first place. Macau’s population density in 2025 measures 23,167 individuals per sq km, a staggering number that makes us wonder: where do all these people live?
A bunch of the usual contenders make an expected appearance, such as Monaco in second place, Singapore in third, and Hong Kong in fourth, though the population density contrast between them is stark. Monaco measures 16,024 people per sq km – a huge jump from Singapore’s 8,576 and Hong Kong’s 6,809 – but considering Monaco spans all of 2.1 sq km, with approximately 38,000 people living in that minuscule area, we’re simply surprised this microstate hasn’t snatched first place.
As for how these rankings were calculated, Visual Capitalist used data from the US Census Bureau to tabulate the population density of territories around the world, comparing the total population count against the jurisdiction’s size in square kilometres. Macau has around 710,000 people living across 33 sq km, which puts the city squarely in first place with 23,167 people per sq km.
Due to limited land mass, high population density is recorded among small city-states, compact territories, and island nations as well, with places such as Gibraltar (number six), Malta (number eight), and Bermuda (number 10) also making the list.
Visit Visual Capitalist for the full infographic. Some of the results may surprise you!
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