Museums Per Million Inhabitants

Which countries have the highest number of museums per million inhabitants?

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Most of us probably have been to a museum at some point in our lives. Whether we liked it or not, depended strongly on the type of museum. In this map, we can see which countries have the largest number of museums per million inhabitants.

We can see straight away, that Europe and North America have far more museums per million inhabitants than other parts of the world. Mongolia, Australia, New Zealand and Japan also have quite a number of museums per million inhabitants. Africa and Asia are almost completely yellow and have the lowest number of museums per million inhabitants.

The top 10 is mostly dominated by micro-states, with the tiny island nation of Niue at the top. Niue only has one museum, but due to its tiny population makes it to the top. Although Andorra also has a tiny population, it does have quite a number of museums for such a small country: 25. The first non-micro-state nation is Iceland. It has 192.6 museums per million inhabitants or 68 in total.

The United States is the country with the largest absolute number of museums. There are an estimated 33,082 museums in the US.

The data for this map, comes from the UNESCO Report on Museums Around the World. The numbers in this report are estimates collected by the individual member states. It includes any type of museum (art, history, science etc.), although definitions might vary slightly by country. Be aware that these numbers are estimates. So, there might be some inaccuracies. Although these are probably the most accurate estimates out there.