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2.1. African Group
In African group, Nigeria has the highest population (162.5 million ) with an
urban population of about 82 million and rural population of 80 million people. In
Nigeria, 50.9 million people are economically active and 12.3 million of which deals
with agriculture. In Uganda and Burkina Faso with relatively low urban life standards,
majority of the population is rural. Gabon is the smallest country in this group; the total
population is 1.5 million. Rural population of Gabon is about 0.21 million people and
0.18 million of which is economically active in agriculture.
2.2. Arab Group
Egypt is the most populated country in Arab Group. The population density of
Egypt is 82.4 inhab/km2, majority of the people (46.6 million people) live in rural parts
of the country and approximately 35 million people live in urban of the country. Saudi
Arabia is the wealthiest country with vast majority of people (23.1 million people)
living in urban and a small portion (4.97 million people) living in rural parts of the
country. Sudan and Yemen are less developed countries of this group and people prefer
to live in rural parts of these countries. The most densely populated country of this
group is Bahrain (1.742 inhab/km2) (Annex 1). Total population of Bahrain is 1.3
million and the rural population is about 150 thousand.
2.3. Asian Group
Asian group, formed by relatively more developed countries like Turkey, Iran
and Malaysia have higher urban population than rural population. The rural population
of Turkey is 22 million and 8 million of which deals with agricultural activities.
Turkey’s urban population is about 51 million and most of the country population is
gathered around the major cities. In less developed countries such as Afghanistan,
Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, the rural population is more than the urban population.
In Bangladesh, rural population is about 107 million and the urban population is about
43 million. Total population is 150.5 million and the population density of the country
is 1045 inhab/km2 (Annex 1). Maldives is the most crowded country (1.067 inhab/km2)
in this group. The total population of Maldives is about 320 thousand people. Of this
population, 188 thousand live in rural areas and 132 thousand live in cities.