Meeting room occupancy statistics describe more than whether a room is busy. They can measure meeting counts against available capacity, people present during occupied time, room-size fit, and booked time lost to ghosted meetings. The figures below cover UN New York conference facilities in 2022 and 2024, a Density sensor study from the first six months of 2019, and VergeSense sensor data from Q1–Q2 2024.
Table of contents
- How meeting-room utilization is measured
- UN New York utilization in 2024
- UN New York utilization in 2022
- What room attendance looked like in 2019
- Capacity fit and undersized or oversized rooms
- Recent occupancy and ghosted-meeting benchmarks
How meeting-room utilization is measured
The UN New York figures use a facility-level utilization rate: recorded meetings are compared with a standard annual meeting capacity. That makes the measure useful for comparing rooms within the same conference system, but it is not the same as the percentage of seats occupied during each meeting. A room can have a high meeting utilization rate while still hosting relatively small groups.
Density and VergeSense use a different lens. Their figures describe observed people in meeting rooms, the share of meeting time associated with particular attendance levels, and the relationship between room design capacity and actual use. These sensor-based measures are closer to physical occupancy. They should not be merged mathematically with the UN facility rates because the measurement definitions, locations, periods, and source methods differ.
The UN source also reports standard annual capacities that vary slightly by facility and year. In 2024, the listed facilities use a standard annual capacity of 506 slots per facility. In 2022, capacities range from 434 to 502 slots in the listed records. The percentages below are therefore best read as source-reported utilization rates for each named facility and year.
UN New York utilization in 2024
Across the listed UN New York conference facilities in 2024, 7,628 meetings were held against 11,638 standard annual meeting-capacity slots, for a reported utilization rate of 65.5%. The source is the Supplementary information to the report of the Secretary-General on the pattern of conferences.
The highest reported utilization belonged to meeting room 6, with 455 meetings and an 89.9% rate. Meeting room 5 followed with 430 meetings and 84.9%. Other heavily used rooms were D, with 403 meetings and 79.6%; C, with 394 and 77.8%; 11, with 388 and 76.6%; 3, with 378 and 74.7%; 12, with 373 and 73.7%; and A, with 372 and 73.5%.
Meeting room 2 recorded 369 meetings and a 72.9% rate, while room 4 recorded 366 meetings and 72.3%. Room B also recorded 366 meetings and a 72.3% rate. Room 1 recorded 351 meetings and 69.3%, and room E recorded 324 meetings and 64.0%.
The lower-utilization facilities in the 2024 records were meeting room 8, with 313 meetings and 61.8%; the Economic and Social Council Chamber, with 312 meetings and 61.6%; meeting room 7, with 298 meetings and 58.8%; and meeting room F, with 250 meetings and 49.4%. The General Assembly Hall recorded 257 meetings and 50.7%.
At the bottom of the 2024 list were meeting room 9, with 234 meetings and 46.2%; meeting room 10, with 149 meetings and 29.4%; and the Security Council Consultation Room, with 145 meetings and 28.6%. The Security Council Chamber recorded 330 meetings and 65.2%, while the Trusteeship Council Chamber recorded 371 meetings and 73.3%.
| 2024 UN New York facility | Meetings | Utilization |
|---|---|---|
| Meeting room 6 | 455 | 89.9% |
| Meeting room 5 | 430 | 84.9% |
| Meeting room D | 403 | 79.6% |
| Meeting room F | 250 | 49.4% |
| Meeting room 10 | 149 | 29.4% |
| Security Council Consultation Room | 145 | 28.6% |
UN New York utilization in 2022
In 2022, the listed UN New York conference facilities recorded 6,670 meetings against 11,392 standard annual meeting-capacity slots, for a reported utilization rate of 58.5%. These figures come from the Supplementary information to the report of the Secretary-General on the pattern of conferences.
The highest 2022 rate was 85.1% in the Security Council Chamber, which recorded 427 meetings. Meeting room 4 recorded 426 meetings and 84.9%. Meeting room C recorded 384 meetings and 76.5%, while the Trusteeship Council Chamber recorded 383 meetings and 76.3%. Meeting room D recorded 370 meetings and 73.7%, and meeting room 11 recorded 368 meetings and 73.3%.
The General Assembly Hall recorded 354 meetings and a 72.2% rate. Meeting room 9 recorded 341 meetings and 68.3%, and room 3 recorded 341 meetings and 67.9%. Meeting room 1 recorded 333 meetings and 66.7%, while the Economic and Social Council Chamber recorded 332 meetings and 66.1%.
Several facilities were below 60% in 2022. Meeting room 8 recorded 303 meetings and 60.4%; room E recorded 302 and 60.2%; rooms 12 and A each recorded 289 and 57.6%; and room B recorded 279 and 55.6%. Meeting room 7 recorded 190 meetings and 43.8%, room 6 recorded 191 and 38.0%, and room 10 recorded 159 and 31.7%.
The lowest 2022 rates were in meeting room 5, with 114 meetings and 26.3%; meeting room F, with 125 meetings and 24.9%; and the Security Council Consultation Room, with 61 meetings and 12.2%. The 2022 source reports capacities of 434 for rooms 5 and 7, 490 for the General Assembly Hall, 499 for rooms 1 and 9, and 502 for the other listed facilities.
| 2022 UN New York facility | Meetings | Utilization |
|---|---|---|
| Security Council Chamber | 427 | 85.1% |
| Meeting room 4 | 426 | 84.9% |
| General Assembly Hall | 354 | 72.2% |
| Meeting room 7 | 190 | 43.8% |
| Meeting room 5 | 114 | 26.3% |
| Security Council Consultation Room | 61 | 12.2% |
What room attendance looked like in 2019
The Mid-Year 2019 Workplace Utilization Index from Density examined 60 conference rooms during the first six months of 2019. Its attendance results show that occupied rooms were often used by small groups. One-person occupancy accounted for 36% of occupied meeting-room time.
Meetings with two to four people represented 40% of all meetings observed. Overall, 85% of meetings had fewer than seven attendees, and only 6% included more than 10 people. Looking at occupied time rather than meeting counts, rooms were occupied by five people or fewer during 76% of the time that rooms were in use.
These measures answer different planning questions. The 40% figure describes the share of observed meetings with two to four people. The 76% figure describes the share of in-use room time when five or fewer people were present. The 36% figure concerns one-person occupancy time. They are not interchangeable percentages, but together they show a strong concentration of usage among small groups.
For event planners and workplace managers, this distinction matters when deciding whether a room is genuinely full. A booking can consume a room’s scheduled time while the physical attendance remains low. The Density figures therefore support tracking both booked or occupied time and the number of people present.
Capacity fit and undersized or oversized rooms
Density’s first-half 2019 analysis also examined whether room design capacity matched actual attendance. Even meetings with the most attendees typically used only 45% of room capacity. Rooms designed for two to four people exceeded capacity twice as often as rooms designed for five to seven people.
The same analysis indicated that roughly 40% of meeting rooms would need to be designed for two to four people to match observed usage patterns. At Density’s San Francisco headquarters, 25% of meetings held in rooms built for seven to 10 people had only one attendee.
| Capacity or attendance measure | Reported result | Period and source |
|---|---|---|
| One-person occupancy | 36% of occupied room time | First half of 2019, Density |
| Meetings with 2–4 people | 40% of observed meetings | First half of 2019, Density |
| Meetings with fewer than 7 attendees | 85% | First half of 2019, Density |
| Rooms in use with 5 people or fewer | 76% of occupied time | First half of 2019, Density |
| Typical capacity used by meetings with the most attendees | 45% | First half of 2019, Density |
| Large rooms with one attendee at San Francisco headquarters | 25% of meetings in 7–10-person rooms | First half of 2019, Density |
The evidence does not establish a universal room-size rule for every venue. It does show why a capacity plan based only on the largest possible group can leave many rooms poorly matched to observed attendance. The relevant comparison is between the room’s designed capacity and the attendance distribution in the specific organization or event program.
Recent occupancy and ghosted-meeting benchmarks
The Occupancy Intelligence Index: 4th Edition from VergeSense reports sensor-based meeting-room results for Q1–Q2 2024. Across its dataset, average meeting-room occupancy was 1.78 people regardless of room capacity. VergeSense also reported that this average was 7.7% lower than the prior year’s average.
Room capacity remained important even with that low average. In the Q1–Q2 2024 analysis, rooms with capacity of six or more were typically occupied by only one or two people, below half of their design capacity. This is a direct capacity-fit benchmark, not a claim about every meeting room or every event venue.
VergeSense also measured ghosted meetings: bookings that occupied booked room time without the expected attendance. In Q1–Q2 2024, ghosted meetings occupied rooms for 13% to 15% of booked time regardless of room capacity, except for two-person rooms. The result makes booking accuracy a separate occupancy issue from room utilization. A venue can have a room that appears heavily booked while a measurable share of its booked time is associated with ghosted meetings.
For planning, the available statistics point to four distinct checks: how many meetings a facility hosts against its annual capacity; how many people are physically present during occupied time; whether room sizes fit the attendance distribution; and how much booked time is lost to ghosted meetings. Keeping those measures separate preserves the meaning of the UN facility rates, the Density attendance patterns from the first half of 2019, and the VergeSense benchmarks from Q1–Q2 2024.