The world's 6 emptiest countries and why no one lives there

The earth's population has never been higher. As of 2024, there are 8.2 billion human beings on the planet, with projections indicating that by 2050 the nine billion mark will have been cleared.

However, there are plenty of states around the world with barely any people at all. Economic, political and geographical reasons can explain why some countries are exceptionally sparsely populated.

Express.co.uk breaks down the six emptiest countries and explains why so few people live there.

Coming in sixth is the only European entry in this list: . The Nordic island is very popular with tourists, and despite being relatively isolated is only a three-hour flight from London.

However, Iceland's low population per sq km (3.82), can be explained by its physical characteristics. The country of less than 390,000 is situated between tectonic plates and thus hosts 41 active volcanic systems.

Historic eruptions have made vast swathes of the small island unliveable. As such, most inhabitants live in or around the capital Reykjavik in the south of the country.

Guyana - the only English-speaking country in South America - is disconnected from its neighbours due to poor infrastructure and the fact that it is largely swallowed up by the Amazon rainforest.

The state has less than 800km of paved roads, making it exceptionally difficult to get around and for settlements to develop.

Guyana is home to around 831,000 people or 3.79 people per sq km.

The land Down Under is almost as large as the continental United States. However, unlike the USA, which has north of 333 million people, Australia has just over 27 million inhabitants.

That means there are 3.48 people per sq km. If you took out its most populous cities, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, it would be far and away the least densely populated nation on earth.

Its emptiness can be attributed to its vast arid outback that is virtually impossible to live in.

Namibia's Skeleton coast and Namib desert make the southern African state incredibly challenging to live in. There are only 3.36 people per sq km.

Despite being twice the size of California, home to just over 39 million people, Namibia has just 2.7 million.

The reason for its low population is the Namib desert's scale. It runs 1900km along the entire coastline of the country and as such Namibia is very, very dry. In fact, it sees just 2mm of rain a year.

Plus, cold currents from Antarctica hit the steaming hot Skeleton coast and cause heavy fog very regularly, making it very difficult to import via the sea. Namibia could therefore be considered a de facto land-locked country.

Mongolia may be one of the more obvious guesses for those wondering which countries on Earth are the least densely populated. The Central Asian nation has just 2.2 people per sq km.

The country is twice the size of Texas but has just 3.5 million residents - that's comfortably less than Scotland.

There are a few reasons why it's so empty. Firstly, it's around 700km from the nearest ocean.

Second, 90 percent of the country is made of elevated grassland steppes or deserts. As a result, it experiences extreme temperatures, particularly brutal and lengthy cold periods.

Further, many of its ethnic residents actually live in Russia or China.

Western Sahara is not considered a state by many countries on Earth or the UN, and Morocco lays claims to its land. However, 46 countries do recognise it as an independent state.

If you do accept it as a state, then it's the world's least populated with 2.207 people per sq km.

Given most of the country is covered by the Sahara Desert, it's obvious why so few people live there.

There are no permanent rivers and only 0.2 percent of land is arable. Plus, the conflict with Morocco has seen 150,000 ethnic people of the area forced into foreign refugee camps.