Economy · Urban population · Eswatini
Eswatini’s urban population rose to 26.7% of population in 2025.
26.7% of population
2025
Up 0.47 pp from 2024.
Updated 8 Oct 2026
In plain words
26.7% of population
What it is. Urban population is the share of all residents who live in areas classed as urban. Each country draws that line itself, usually from settlement size or administrative status, so the figure follows Eswatini's own definition. The share says where people live. It carries no information about the size of towns, the quality of housing or services, or people who split their time between a town job and a rural homestead.
Neither way is good in itself. A rising share can reflect jobs and services drawing people to towns. A falling share can reflect strong rural livelihoods or a shortage of urban opportunity. Either can fit a healthy path, so the direction carries no verdict by itself. The latest figure, for 2025, is 26.7% of population, up from 26.2% a year earlier, a rise of 0.47 percentage points. Since 2016 the share has ranged from 23.5% of population in 2016 to 26.7% of population in 2025, so the latest reading is the highest in that span.
Why it matters. Most people in Eswatini still live in rural areas, so farming, land held under local custom and family homesteads shape daily life for the large majority of households. The steady rise adds to demand for housing, water, roads and jobs in and around towns. Planners in the state can check each new year's figure against that pressure when budgeting for urban services.
| Period | Urban population · Eswatini |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 23.5% of population |
| 2017 | 23.8% of population |
| 2018 | 24.1% of population |
| 2019 | 24.3% of population |
| 2020 | 24.7% of population |
| 2021 | 25% of population |
| 2022 | 25.4% of population |
| 2023 | 25.8% of population |
| 2024 | 26.2% of population |
| 2025 | 26.7% of population |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0) · Licence: CC BY 4.0
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Strata-AF™ Data, Urban population, Eswatini, 2025; source World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0), retrieved 8 Oct 2026; https://data.strata-af.com/economy/urban-population/eswatini
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Methodology
Share of the population living in urban areas. Unit: % of population.
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (series SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS), retrieved through the World Bank API and published under CC BY 4.0. Updated annually; the World Bank's own source notes apply.