What nation has the lowest population density in the world?

Mongolia has the lowest population density among the world’s sovereign countries.

Its enormous territory covers about 1.56 million square kilometres, but only a few million people live there. That combination produces a national population density of roughly two people per square kilometre, although the exact figure changes as population estimates and land-area calculations are updated.

Mongolia’s landscape helps explain the low density. Much of the country consists of steppe, desert, and mountain terrain, including the Gobi Desert. Pastoral nomadism remains an important cultural and economic tradition, with families moving livestock between seasonal grazing areas rather than living in a dense network of large settlements.

Ulaanbaatar contains a substantial share of Mongolia’s population, creating a sharp contrast between the capital and the sparsely inhabited countryside. A common qualification is that some territories, such as Greenland or the Falkland Islands, can appear less densely populated in lists that include non-sovereign territories. For standard country rankings, however, Mongolia is the accepted answer.