Popular online knowledge resource Wikipedia has released a report in which it says Malta has the fourth highest population density in the world.

Malta is tied in fourth place with Bermuda.

Monaco, it said, has the highest density, followed by Singapore, Hong Kong, Gibraltar and the Gaza Strip in second place. Third place went to the Vatican City.

Monaco has a population of 32,409 in a land area of 1.95 square kilometres, with a density of 16,620 people per square kilometre.

Singapore came in second with a population of 4,425,720 with a land area of 692.7 square kilometres and a density of 6,389 people per square kilometre.

Hong Kong has a population of 6,898,686 with a land area of 1,092 km2 and a density of 6,317 per km2.

Gibraltar and Gaza Strip were also declared in second place and polled in with respective figures of 27,884 inhabitants on a land area of 6.5 km2 and a density of 4,289 per km2, while 1,376,289 Palestinians live in 260 km2, creating a population density of 3,823 per km2.

The Vatican City, by far the smallest state with land area of 0.44 km2, polled 921 inhabitants and a density of 2,093 per km2.

Malta was fourth with a population of 398,534 in a land area of 316 km2 and a density of 1,261 people per km2.

Bermuda came in closely behind and was given joint fourth with 65,365 Bermudans living in a land area of 53.3 km2 and a density of 1,226 people per km2.

At the far end of the leaderboard in 198th place, Greenland polled 56,375 inhabitants on a huge, although largely uninhabitable landmass of 2,166,086 km2, creating a very paltry 0.03 inhabitants per km2. Wikipedia says that population figures were an estimate beyond July 2005, although figures they received were passed on by relevant national agencies, correct to that date.

Wikipedia also points out that contrary to popular belief, the south of Malta is not Europe’s most southern point: Malta is Europe’s fourth southernmost country; Spain (Punta de Tarifa), Cyprus and Greece (Gavdos Island), rank third, second, and first respectively.

The top three cities with the highest population density were all non-European with Male in the Maldives registering a population density of 48,007 people per km2. Manila in the Phillipines came in second with 41,014 inhabitants per km2. Mumbai in India came in third with a density of 39,860 people per km2. The highest city density in Europe was Paris, with 24,488 people per km2, still well down on the Asian and African cities.