# Which metro area contains the largest percent of its country's population? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 9, 2009, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-metro-area-contains-the-largest-percent-of-its-countrys-population/520551 "2009-12-09T02:17:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Commander\_Keen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@Commander\_Keen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commander_Keen)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-metro-area-contains-the-largest-percent-of-its-countrys-population/520551/1 "2009-12-09T02:17:14Z")
…not counting city-states. As an example (the example that sparked this question), according to Wikipedia, the [Seoul National Capital Area](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seoul_National_Capital_Area) contains about 48.2% of South Korea’s population. That seems pretty high, but what’s the highest? I realize this depends on the definition of metro area. I don’t really have one in mind, so feel free to cite anything. ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-metro-area-contains-the-largest-percent-of-its-countrys-population/520551/2 "2009-12-09T02:29:35Z")
nm, i should read first. (was going to say a city-state) Kuwait? Pop of country: 2.8 mil Pop of Kuwait City metro: 2.3 mil ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-metro-area-contains-the-largest-percent-of-its-countrys-population/520551/3 "2009-12-09T02:38:00Z")
I’m going to go for Vatican City. 100%. ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-metro-area-contains-the-largest-percent-of-its-countrys-population/520551/4 "2009-12-09T02:39:22Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:3, topic:520551”] I’m going to go for Vatican City. 100%. [/QUOTE] at first i missed the “no city states, please” part, too. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Commander\_Keen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@Commander\_Keen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commander_Keen)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-metro-area-contains-the-largest-percent-of-its-countrys-population/520551/5 "2009-12-09T02:39:36Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:3, topic:520551”] I’m going to go for Vatican City. 100%. [/QUOTE] … > [@Commander\_Keen](#): > > …not counting city-states. EDIT: beaten to it ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-metro-area-contains-the-largest-percent-of-its-countrys-population/520551/6 "2009-12-09T03:08:16Z")
Kuwait might have it beat, but Reykjavik is up there. Greater Reykjavík Area - 202,000 Iceland - 316,960 ---
**Author:** ![fuzzypickles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9d8465/32.png) [@fuzzypickles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzypickles)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-metro-area-contains-the-largest-percent-of-its-countrys-population/520551/7 "2009-12-09T03:54:11Z")
How about [Ulan Bator, Mongolia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulaanbaatar)? (1,067,472 // 3,041,142) Originally I was going to mention Vaduz, Liechtenstein (which technically isn’t a city-state) but apparently the city has only 15% of the country’s population. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-metro-area-contains-the-largest-percent-of-its-countrys-population/520551/8 "2009-12-09T04:07:27Z")
> [@Rumor\_Watkins](#): > > at first i missed the “no city states, please” part, too. 🆒 Oops. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-metro-area-contains-the-largest-percent-of-its-countrys-population/520551/9 "2009-12-09T05:13:22Z")
Another contender would be [Djibouti](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djibouti_(city)), capital of the Republic of Djibouti. City/country populations are estimated at 624k / 864k respectively, though there seem to be several different numbers running around Wikipedia.