Interactive Map of Heavy Metal Bands By Country Per 100,000 People

Caitlin Dempsey

Updated:

Where are heavy metal bands the most dense when compared against a country’s total population?  The original static map (shown below) was created by Reddit user depo_s who took the listing of bands by country from the Encyclopaedia Metallum and calculated the number of bands per 100,000 people using numbers from the CIA World Factbook.

For a more up-to-date article see: Geography of Heavy Metal Bands (2021)

The Nordic areas seem to rule in terms of the highest proportion of heavy metal bands to residents.  Finland leads the list of countries by far with 53.2 heavy metal bands per 100,000 residents.  Sweden is the second most dense country with 37.14 metal bands per 100,000 residents.

Interestingly, the Encyclopaedia Metallum lists Svalbard, an  archipelago that makes up the northern part of Norway as its own country.  With only one band but also only 1,970 residents, it ranks as the second densest listing.  

The interactive map below shows the density of heavy metal bands per capita. The compiled data can be found at the end of this article. Six areas from the dataset were not able to shown on the map below: Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Guam, Laos, New Caledonia, Puerto Rico, and Svalbard.

With the fourth place ranking, Liechtenstein with 27.24 bands per 100,000 residents was the only non nordic placement in the top five list.  Finally, Norway, was listed as the fifth densest with 26.99 bands per 100,000.  Adjusting for Svalbard didn’t have much impact on that proportion.

Table: Heavy Metal Bands by Country

This table lists the proportion of metal bands per 100,000 people, number of bands, and total population by country for each country with data about heavy metal bands.

CountryMetal bands per 100000 peopleBandsPopulation
Albania0.266483002859
Algeria0.06212235406303
Andorra3.526385082
Angola0.0111218056072
Argentina3.1072131142192494
Armenia0.404122970495
Australia6.9178152322015576
Austria9.93958178219743
Azerbaijan0.042149493600
Bahrain0.8011101248348
Bangladesh0.015525161083804
Barbados0.34751287733
Belarus2.30542209542883
Belgium9.072394710438353
Belize0.30511327719
Bolivia1.341113810290003
Bosnia and Herzegovina1.774824622292
Botswana0.333672098018
Brazil1.86963846205716890
Brunei4.158717408786
Bulgaria3.3392357037935
Burma0.0037254584650
Canada7.3003250434300083
Chile6.6618113717067369
China0.01181591343239923
Colombia1.945288045239079
Costa Rica2.37261104636348
Croatia6.54012934480043
Cuba0.64117111075244
Cyprus3.8662441138071
Czech Republic10.8575110510177300
Democratic Republic of Congo0.0014173599190
Denmark12.64557015543453
Dominican Republic0.20822110088598
Ecuador1.300619815223680
Egypt0.01551383688164
El Salvador1.3792846090646
Estonia12.31651571274709
Faroe Islands16.1672849483
Finland53.202328005262930
France5.7306376165630692
Georgia0.2188104570934
Germany10.0313815681305856
Gibraltar13.777429034
Greece13.271142910767827
Greenland1.7333157695
Guam3.23156185674
Guatemala0.52497414099032
Guyana0.26962741908
Honduras0.3375288296693
Hungary9.22839199958453
Iceland22.670571313183
India0.00931121205073612
Indonesia0.2325577248216193
Iran0.0524178868711
Iraq0.0193631129225
Ireland5.69672694722028
Israel2.51621917590758
Italy7.7618475561261254
Jamaica0.034612889187
Japan1.10071402127368088
Jordan0.3995266508887
Kazakhstan0.15412717522010
Kenya0.0023143013341
Kuwait0.075622646314
Kyrgyzstan0.072845496737
Laos0.030426586266
Latvia3.0115662191580
Lebanon0.8212344140289
Libya0.029726733620
Liechtenstein27.23831036713
Lithuania3.5171243525761
Luxembourg12.571864509074
Macedonia3.5056732082370
Madagascar0.0266622585517
Malaysia1.326338729179952
Maldives1.52116394451
Malta11.71248409836
Mexico1.26031449114975406
Moldova0.6563243656843
Monaco19.6657630510
Mongolia0.188763179997
Montenegro0.91276657394
Morocco0.03711232309239
Mozambique0.0043123515934
Namibia0.092322165828
Nepal0.04011229890686
Netherlands10.424174416730632
New Caledonia1.15313260166
New Zealand5.54542404327944
Nicaragua0.3143185727707
Norway26.958312694707270
Oman0.032413090150
Pakistan0.025849190291129
Panama1.5669553510045
Paraguay1.2688836541591
Peru0.988229229549517
Philippines0.1571163103775002
Poland6.5391251238415284
Portugal9.108298210781459
Puerto Rico3.05081223998905
Qatar0.051211951591
Romania1.290728221848504
Russia1.411947138082178
San Marino6.2228232140
Saudi Arabia0.04521226534504
Serbia3.60062627276604
Singapore3.62381945353494
Slovakia7.73294245483088
Slovenia9.01521801996617
South Africa0.243811948810427
South Korea0.362317748860500
Spain4.7318222647042984
Sri Lanka0.08841921481334
Suriname0.17851560157
Svalbard50.761411970
Sweden37.138433819103788
Switzerland9.4317227655628
Syria0.07551722530746
Taiwan0.1864323113901
Tajikistan0.038637768385
Thailand0.193813067091089
Trinidad and Tobago0.407751226383
Tunisia0.12111310732900
Turkey0.504140279749461
Turkmenistan0.039625054828
Uganda0.0056235873253
Ukraine1.090248944854065
United Arab Emirates0.3575195314317
United Kingdom5.1327323663047162
United States5.49517246313847465
Uruguay3.19631063316328
Uzbekistan0.0176528394180
Venezuela0.955526828047938
Vietnam0.04263991519289
Map of Heavy Metal Bands By Country Per Capita
Map of Heavy Metal Bands By Country Per Capita by depo, 2012, CC BY-SA. Click on map for larger image.
Photo of author
About the author
Caitlin Dempsey
Caitlin Dempsey is the editor of Geography Realm and holds a master's degree in Geography from UCLA as well as a Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) from SJSU.