Living in Cumbria I can actually speak to this a bit. We're pretty rural out here - fells, quiet roads, not much ambient light or noise - and the number of accounts from people in this area alone is honestly surprising for the population density.
My working theory, for what its worth, is that it's partly a reporting bias. If you lose 2 hours on a quiet B-road at 11pm nobody sees you. Do the same in central Manchester and there's CCTV, witnesses, people asking if you're alright. The event might be equally likely in both places but the rural one just never gets corroborated or reported.
The other angle though - and I'm more skeptical about this one - is that some researchers argue populated areas with EM interference, radio towers, general light pollution etc actually deter whatever is causing these events. I'm not fully sold on that but I can't dismiss it either.
Has anyone here actually cross-referenced sighting databases against population density maps? Because that feels like the actual test here rather than just swapping anecdotes. Would genuinely love to see the data on it.