ATLAS · FUSION VIEW
Cities & Wealth
The share of people in cities as colour, income per person as bubbles. Urbanisation and prosperity tend to rise together; this map shows how tightly, and names the places that defy it.
COLOUR
Urban Population
Share of people living in cities and towns, World Bank.
World Bank Open Data · 2024
BUBBLE SIZE
GDP per capita
GDP divided by population, current US$, World Bank.
World Bank Open Data · 2024
How strongly do they move together?
Across the 214 countries with both figures, urban population and gdp per capita move together a strong amount — as one rises, so does the other (correlation r = 0.62). That’s a clear, dependable pattern; the map below makes it visible at a glance.
Correlation is measured across the 214countries that have both figures, in each metric’s own scale (log scale where the map uses one). Correlation is not causation — it only measures whether the two tend to track each other.
Deep green marks the most urbanised countries; the largest bubbles mark the richest. They broadly climb together — wealth and city life reinforce each other. But the exceptions tell the stories: oil and resource economies that are highly urban without the broad prosperity, and a handful of rich countries that stay surprisingly rural.
Who fits the pattern — and who breaks it
Two ways to read the map. On the left, the countries that most clearly follow the relationship; on the right, the ones that most defy it — the exceptions worth a closer look.
| Country | Urban % | GDP / capita |
|---|---|---|
| Greece | 79.0% | $24.6K |
| Saudi Arabia | 84.5% | $35.1K |
| Mali | 31.6% | $1.1K |
| Malawi | 17.3% | $523 |
| Qatar | 99.3% | $76.7K |
| Israel | 91.5% | $54.2K |
| Country | Urban % | GDP / capita |
|---|---|---|
| Liechtenstein | 14.7% | $206.8K |
| Channel Islands | 32.7% | $74.6K |
| Faroe Islands | 39.4% | $74.1K |
| Guyana | 26.5% | $29.7K |
| Isle of Man | 52.2% | $88.3K |
| Antigua and Barbuda | 24.4% | $23.5K |
Understand the underlying numbers
See each layer on its own
TWO LAYERS, ONE MAP
Try another pairing, or build your own in the live Atlas.