Home / All Bamwor Indexes / IBEU — Bamwor Urban Scale Index What this index measures The Urban Scale Index quantifies urban primacy — the degree to which a country’s largest city concentrates its population. A score of 30 means the largest city holds 30% of the country’s total population. Countries with high scores have a single dominant metropolis (e.g., capital cities that overshadow all others), while low scores indicate a more distributed urban landscape.
Methodology The index is computed by dividing the population of the country’s largest city (from Bamwor’s database) by the country’s total population, then multiplying by 100 to express the result as a percentage.
Formula IBEU = (largest_city_population / country_total_population) × 100Variables used Largest city population (Bamwor database) Total country population (Bamwor database) How to interpret Higher values indicate stronger urban primacy — a single city dominates the country. Lower values suggest a more balanced distribution of population across cities.
Limitations City population figures from Bamwor may not exactly match national census data. The index uses the largest populated place in Bamwor’s database, which may differ from metropolitan area definitions. Countries with very small populations may show extreme values.
Full Ranking Rank Country Largest city pop. IBEU
1 Cook Islands 13,373 176.15 3 Monaco 32,965 102.86 4 Hong Kong 7,396,076 101.24 5 Macau 649,335 100.76 7 Singapore 5,638,700 92.73 10 Gibraltar 26,544 89.27 14 Curacao 125,000 81.55 16 Palau 14,000 63.79 18 Djibouti 626,512 61.80 19 The Bahamas 227,940 54.88 20 Tuvalu 6,320 53.45 25 Montenegro 236,852 39.49 27 Latvia 742,572 39.32 28 Armenia 1,144,700 38.62 30 Uruguay 1,270,737 36.84 31 Lebanon 1,916,100 35.72 32 Kiribati 40,311 34.59 33 Niue 624 34.38 34 Suriname 223,757 34.23 35 Gabon 846,090 33.66 36 Taiwan 7,871,900 33.35 37 Iceland 118,918 32.67 39 Barbados 98,511 32.39 40 Jamaica 937,700 31.91 42 New Caledonia 93,060 30.25 43 Western Sahara 196,331 30.10 44 New Zealand 1,530,500 29.65 45 Guyana 235,017 29.60 47 Estonia 394,024 29.39 48 Isle of Man 26,218 28.29 49 Kosovo 550,000 27.82 50 Liberia 1,542,549 27.73 51 Jersey 28,000 26.94 52 Maldives 103,693 26.67 54 Guam 44,943 26.51 55 San Marino 9,258 26.23 56 Mongolia 844,818 25.74 57 Greenland 14,798 25.62 58 Chile 4,837,295 25.34 59 Faroe Islands 13,200 24.94 61 Guernsey 16,488 24.27 62 Aruba 29,998 23.99 63 Nauru 2,381 23.98 64 Andorra 20,430 23.93 65 Togo 2,188,376 23.93 67 Peru 7,737,002 23.61 69 Seychelles 22,881 23.30 70 Mauritania 1,184,530 22.77 71 Cabo Verde 137,868 22.56 73 Dominica 16,571 22.19 74 Tokelau 531 21.65 75 Cuba 2,163,824 21.51 76 Tonga 22,400 21.43 77 Georgia 1,049,498 21.41 79 Montserrat 1,140 20.85 80 Guinea-Bissau 439,704 20.62 81 Australia 5,557,233 20.21 82 The Dominican 2,201,941 20.20 83 South Korea 10,349,312 20.10 84 Kuwait 637,411 20.09 85 Oman 797,000 20.08 86 Côte d'Ivoire 6,321,017 19.84 87 Norway 1,082,575 19.65 89 Ireland 1,024,027 19.57 90 Paraguay 1,482,200 19.49 91 Lithuania 542,366 19.26 92 Samoa 40,407 19.22 93 Serbia 1,273,651 19.15 94 Saint Martin 6,333 19.14 96 Denmark 1,153,615 19.06 97 Mali 4,227,569 18.68 99 Turkey 15,701,602 18.55 100 Austria 1,691,468 18.44 101 Belarus 1,742,124 18.41 102 Sint Maarten 8,467 18.12 103 Moldova 635,994 17.77 104 Libya 1,302,947 17.70 105 Hungary 1,741,041 17.67 106 Bulgaria 1,152,556 17.11 107 Iraq 7,216,000 16.81 108 Albania 418,495 16.40 109 Croatia 663,592 16.30 110 Lesotho 359,753 16.18 111 Bolivia 2,004,652 16.12 112 Belize 65,222 15.46 113 South Africa 9,418,183 15.42 114 Colombia 7,674,366 15.40 115 Bermuda 11,160 15.33 116 Ecuador 2,781,641 15.05 117 Cyprus 200,452 15.05 118 Saint Lucia 25,210 14.96 119 Liechtenstein 5,998 14.79 120 Kyrgyzstan 900,000 14.47 121 Nicaragua 973,087 14.44 122 Sweden 1,515,017 14.23 124 Senegal 2,646,503 14.04 125 Puerto Rico 418,140 14.01 127 Namibia 386,219 13.54 128 The Gambia 340,000 13.47 129 DRC 16,000,000 13.44 130 Qatar 344,939 13.43 131 Guinea 1,928,389 13.42 132 Vietnam 14,002,598 13.12 133 Brunei 64,409 13.09 134 United Kingdom 8,961,989 13.04 135 Slovenia 272,220 12.98 136 West Bank 428,304 12.94 137 Saudi Arabia 4,697,000 12.85 138 Somalia 2,587,183 12.73 139 Turkmenistan 727,700 12.67 140 North Korea 3,222,000 12.20 141 Finland 658,864 11.87 142 Mauritius 155,226 11.84 143 Luxembourg 76,684 11.42 144 Vanuatu 35,901 11.29 145 Jordan 1,275,857 11.28 146 Bahrain 176,583 11.27 147 Bhutan 98,676 11.05 148 Czechia 1,165,581 10.75 149 Timor-Leste 150,000 10.68 150 Anguilla 2,035 10.48 151 Azerbaijan 1,116,513 10.44 152 Haiti 1,234,742 10.38 153 Romania 1,877,155 10.34 154 Israel 971,800 10.34 155 Burkina Faso 2,415,266 10.28 156 Zambia 2,212,301 10.05 157 Morocco 3,665,954 9.81 158 Botswana 246,325 9.77 160 Eswatini 110,537 9.72 161 Kazakhstan 1,977,011 9.68 162 Fiji 92,043 9.67 164 Venezuela 3,000,000 9.45 165 Mexico 12,294,193 9.40 166 Cambodia 1,573,544 9.13 167 Panama 408,168 9.00 168 Afghanistan 4,434,550 8.96 169 Honduras 850,848 8.93 170 Zimbabwe 1,542,813 8.83 171 Eritrea 563,930 8.79 172 Syria 2,098,210 8.65 173 Sierra Leone 802,639 8.60 174 Belgium 1,019,022 8.52 175 Egypt 9,606,916 8.51 176 Rwanda 1,132,686 8.31 177 El Salvador 525,990 8.30 178 Comoros 74,749 8.20 179 Iran 7,153,309 8.02 180 Japan 9,733,276 7.90 181 Kenya 4,397,073 7.89 182 Ukraine 2,797,553 7.84 183 Tanzania 5,383,728 7.79 184 Burma 4,477,638 7.73 185 Slovakia 423,737 7.62 187 Russia 10,381,222 7.41 188 Thailand 5,104,476 7.29 189 Ghana 2,544,530 7.20 190 Canada 2,794,356 7.13 191 Angola 2,776,168 7.12 192 Chad 1,359,526 6.91 193 Spain 3,255,944 6.89 194 Grenada 7,500 6.54 195 Tajikistan 679,400 6.41 196 Greece 664,046 6.37 197 Argentina 2,891,082 6.37 198 Costa Rica 335,007 6.32 199 Nigeria 15,388,000 6.30 200 Malta 32,042 6.14 201 Bangladesh 10,356,500 5.94 202 Tunisia 693,210 5.79 203 Burundi 769,317 5.66 204 Yemen 1,937,451 5.61 205 Brazil 12,400,232 5.60 206 Guatemala 994,938 5.45 207 Uzbekistan 1,978,028 5.34 208 Malawi 1,115,815 5.13 209 Portugal 517,802 5.08 210 Pakistan 13,004,135 5.06 211 Algeria 2,364,230 4.95 212 Netherlands 868,135 4.87 213 Niger 1,323,691 4.84 215 Switzerland 415,367 4.65 216 Nepal 1,442,271 4.60 217 Benin 679,012 4.47 218 Poland 1,702,139 4.39 219 Madagascar 1,349,501 4.31 220 Cameroon 1,338,082 4.25 221 Malaysia 1,453,975 4.17 222 Germany 3,426,354 4.08 223 Sudan 1,974,647 3.91 224 Italy 2,318,895 3.81 225 Mozambique 1,254,837 3.67 226 South Sudan 450,000 3.54 227 Uganda 1,680,600 3.30 228 Ethiopia 3,860,000 3.18 229 France 2,138,551 3.12 230 Indonesia 8,540,121 3.01 231 Sri Lanka 648,034 2.94 233 Philippines 3,084,270 2.61 234 United States 8,804,190 2.60 235 Laos 196,731 2.47 236 China 24,874,500 1.77 237 India 12,691,836 0.89 How to cite this index Bamwor. "IBEU — Bamwor Urban Scale Index." https://bamwor.com/en/indexes/urban-scale-index. Accessed 2026-03-20. Data: CIA World Factbook, GeoNames. Updated Q1 2026.Data Sources CIA World Factbook — Country population and area data (public domain).GeoNames — City population data, administrative divisions (CC BY 4.0).
