this is a list of countries and dependencies ranked by human population density, and measured by the number of human inhabitants per square kilometre or square mile. the list includes sovereign states and self-governing dependent territories based upon the iso standard iso 3166-1. the list also includes but does not rank unrecognized but de facto independent countries. the figures in the following table are based on areas including inland water bodies (lakes, reservoirs, rivers). data are estimates for july 2005, taken from the united nations world prospects report (2004 revision), unless stated differently.