The total population in North Korea was estimated at 26.5 million people in 2024, according to the latest census figures and projections from Trading Economics. This dataset provides - North Korea Population - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

North Korea KP: Population: Growth data was reported at 0.481 % in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 0.493 % for 2016. North Korea KP: Population: Growth data is updated yearly, averaging 1.444 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 2.899 % in 1969 and a record low of 0.481 % in 2017. North Korea KP: Population: Growth data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s North Korea – Table KP.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Annual population growth rate for year t is the exponential rate of growth of midyear population from year t-1 to t, expressed as a percentage . Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship.; ; Derived from total population. Population source: (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision, (2) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (4) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Reprot (various years), (5) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database, and (6) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme.; Weighted average;

North Korea KP: Population: Total data was reported at 25,490,965.000 Person in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 25,368,620.000 Person for 2016. North Korea KP: Population: Total data is updated yearly, averaging 19,851,039.000 Person from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 25,490,965.000 Person in 2017 and a record low of 11,424,176.000 Person in 1960. North Korea KP: Population: Total data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s North Korea – Table KP.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Total population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship. The values shown are midyear estimates.; ; (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision. (2) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (4) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Reprot (various years), (5) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database, and (6) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme.; Sum; Relevance to gender indicator: disaggregating the population composition by gender will help a country in projecting its demand for social services on a gender basis.

Comprehensive socio-economic dataset for North Korea including population demographics, economic indicators, geographic data, and social statistics. This dataset covers key metrics such as GDP, population density, area, capital city, and regional classifications.

Historical chart and dataset showing total population for North Korea by year from 1950 to 2025.

North Korea KP: Birth Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data was reported at 13.834 Ratio in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 13.873 Ratio for 2015. North Korea KP: Birth Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data is updated yearly, averaging 20.651 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2016, with 57 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 37.774 Ratio in 1968 and a record low of 13.834 Ratio in 2016. North Korea KP: Birth Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s North Korea – Table KP.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Crude birth rate indicates the number of live births occurring during the year, per 1,000 population estimated at midyear. Subtracting the crude death rate from the crude birth rate provides the rate of natural increase, which is equal to the rate of population change in the absence of migration.; ; (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision. (2) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (4) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Reprot (various years), (5) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database, and (6) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme.; Weighted average;

Historical chart and dataset showing North Korea urban population by year from 1960 to 2023.

North Korea KP: Urban Population Living in Areas Where Elevation is Below 5 meters: % of Total Population data was reported at 2.176 % in 2010. This records an increase from the previous number of 2.166 % for 2000. North Korea KP: Urban Population Living in Areas Where Elevation is Below 5 meters: % of Total Population data is updated yearly, averaging 2.176 % from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2010, with 3 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 2.341 % in 1990 and a record low of 2.166 % in 2000. North Korea KP: Urban Population Living in Areas Where Elevation is Below 5 meters: % of Total Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s North Korea – Table KP.World Bank: Land Use, Protected Areas and National Wealth. Urban population below 5m is the percentage of the total population, living in areas where the elevation is 5 meters or less.; ; Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN)/Columbia University. 2013. Urban-Rural Population and Land Area Estimates Version 2. Palisades, NY: NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/data/set/lecz-urban-rural-population-land-area-estimates-v2.; Weighted Average;

DPR Korea administrative level 0 (country), 1 (province, special city), and 2 (county, city, special city) 2008 population statistics

REFERENCE YEAR: 2008

These population statistics tables are suitable for database or GIS linkage to the DPR Korea administrative level 0-2 boundaries. Note, however the caveat below that two administrative level 2 features in the COD-AB do not have corresponding records in the COD-PS table.

DPR Korea administrative level 0 (country), 1 (province, special city), and 2 (county, city, special city) population statistics

These population statistics tables are suitable for database or GIS linkage to the DPR Korea administrative level 0-2 boundaries. Note, however the caveat below that two administrative level 2 features in the COD-AB do not have corresponding records in the COD-PS table.

North Korea KP: Death Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data was reported at 8.844 Ratio in 2016. This records an increase from the previous number of 8.750 Ratio for 2015. North Korea KP: Death Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data is updated yearly, averaging 8.662 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2016, with 57 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 14.165 Ratio in 1960 and a record low of 5.663 Ratio in 1990. North Korea KP: Death Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s North Korea – Table KP.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Crude death rate indicates the number of deaths occurring during the year, per 1,000 population estimated at midyear. Subtracting the crude death rate from the crude birth rate provides the rate of natural increase, which is equal to the rate of population change in the absence of migration.; ; (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision. (2) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (4) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Reprot (various years), (5) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database, and (6) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme.; Weighted average;

North Korea KP: Population: Female: Ages 30-34: % of Female Population data was reported at 6.994 % in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 6.994 % for 2016. North Korea KP: Population: Female: Ages 30-34: % of Female Population data is updated yearly, averaging 7.654 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 9.872 % in 2002 and a record low of 4.769 % in 1984. North Korea KP: Population: Female: Ages 30-34: % of Female Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s North Korea – Table KP.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Female population between the ages 30 to 34 as a percentage of the total female population.; ; World Bank staff estimates based on age/sex distributions of United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision.; ;

North Korea KP: Population Living in Areas Where Elevation is Below 5 Meters: % of Total Population data was reported at 5.132 % in 2010. This records an increase from the previous number of 5.128 % for 2000. North Korea KP: Population Living in Areas Where Elevation is Below 5 Meters: % of Total Population data is updated yearly, averaging 5.132 % from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2010, with 3 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 5.229 % in 1990 and a record low of 5.128 % in 2000. North Korea KP: Population Living in Areas Where Elevation is Below 5 Meters: % of Total Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s North Korea – Table KP.World Bank: Land Use, Protected Areas and National Wealth. Population below 5m is the percentage of the total population living in areas where the elevation is 5 meters or less.; ; Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN)/Columbia University. 2013. Urban-Rural Population and Land Area Estimates Version 2. Palisades, NY: NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/data/set/lecz-urban-rural-population-land-area-estimates-v2.; Weighted Average;

North Korea KP: Population: Female: Aged 15-64 data was reported at 8,885,953.000 Person in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 8,792,444.000 Person for 2016. North Korea KP: Population: Female: Aged 15-64 data is updated yearly, averaging 6,921,318.000 Person from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 8,885,953.000 Person in 2017 and a record low of 3,721,236.000 Person in 1960. North Korea KP: Population: Female: Aged 15-64 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s North Korea – Table KP.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Female population between the ages 15 to 64. Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship.; ; World Bank staff estimates using the World Bank's total population and age/sex distributions of the United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision.; Sum; Relevance to gender indicator: Knowing how many girls, adolescents and women there are in a population helps a country in determining its provision of services.

The pen shell, Atrina pectinata, is one of the commercial bivalves in East Asia and thought to be recently affected by anthropogenic pressure (habitat destruction and/or fishing pressure). Information on its population genetic structure is crucial for the conservation of A. pectinata. Considering its long pelagic larval duration and iteroparity with high fecundity, the genetic structure for A. pectinata could be expected to be weak at a fine scale. However, the unusual oceanography in the coasts of China and Korea suggests potential for restricted dispersal of pelagic larvae and geographical differentiation. In addition, environmental changes associated with Pleistocene sea level fluctuations on the East China Sea continental shelf may also have strongly influenced historical population demography and genetic diversity of marine organisms. Here, partial sequences of the mitochondrial Cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene and seven microsatellite loci were used to estimate population genetic structure and demographic history of seven samples from Northern China coast and one sample from North Korea coast. Despite high levels of genetic diversity within samples, there was no genetic differentiation among samples from Northern China coast and low but significant genetic differentiation between some of the Chinese samples and the North Korean sample. A late Pleistocene population expansion, probably after the Last Glacial Maximum, was also demonstrated for A. pectinata samples. No recent genetic bottleneck was detected in any of the eight samples. We concluded that both historical recolonization (through population range expansion and demographic expansion in the late Pleistocene) and current gene flow (through larval dispersal) were responsible for the weak level of genetic structure detected in A. pectinata.

North Korea KP: International Migrant Stock: % of Population data was reported at 0.193 % in 2015. This records an increase from the previous number of 0.180 % for 2010. North Korea KP: International Migrant Stock: % of Population data is updated yearly, averaging 0.169 % from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2015, with 6 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.193 % in 2015 and a record low of 0.158 % in 2000. North Korea KP: International Migrant Stock: % of Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s North Korea – Table KP.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. International migrant stock is the number of people born in a country other than that in which they live. It also includes refugees. The data used to estimate the international migrant stock at a particular time are obtained mainly from population censuses. The estimates are derived from the data on foreign-born population--people who have residence in one country but were born in another country. When data on the foreign-born population are not available, data on foreign population--that is, people who are citizens of a country other than the country in which they reside--are used as estimates. After the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 people living in one of the newly independent countries who were born in another were classified as international migrants. Estimates of migrant stock in the newly independent states from 1990 on are based on the 1989 census of the Soviet Union. For countries with information on the international migrant stock for at least two points in time, interpolation or extrapolation was used to estimate the international migrant stock on July 1 of the reference years. For countries with only one observation, estimates for the reference years were derived using rates of change in the migrant stock in the years preceding or following the single observation available. A model was used to estimate migrants for countries that had no data.; ; United Nations Population Division, Trends in Total Migrant Stock: 2008 Revision.; Weighted average;

North Korea KP: Population Density: People per Square Km data was reported at 211.701 Person/sq km in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 210.685 Person/sq km for 2016. North Korea KP: Population Density: People per Square Km data is updated yearly, averaging 166.047 Person/sq km from Dec 1961 (Median) to 2017, with 57 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 211.701 Person/sq km in 2017 and a record low of 96.882 Person/sq km in 1961. North Korea KP: Population Density: People per Square Km data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s North Korea – Table KP.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population density is midyear population divided by land area in square kilometers. Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship--except for refugees not permanently settled in the country of asylum, who are generally considered part of the population of their country of origin. Land area is a country's total area, excluding area under inland water bodies, national claims to continental shelf, and exclusive economic zones. In most cases the definition of inland water bodies includes major rivers and lakes.; ; Food and Agriculture Organization and World Bank population estimates.; Weighted average;

North Korea KP: Population: as % of Total: Female: Aged 15-64 data was reported at 68.232 % in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 67.835 % for 2016. North Korea KP: Population: as % of Total: Female: Aged 15-64 data is updated yearly, averaging 66.659 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 68.531 % in 1991 and a record low of 56.017 % in 1971. North Korea KP: Population: as % of Total: Female: Aged 15-64 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s North Korea – Table KP.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Female population between the ages 15 to 64 as a percentage of the total female population. Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship.; ; World Bank staff estimates based on age/sex distributions of United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision.; Weighted average; Relevance to gender indicator: Knowing how many girls, adolescents and women there are in a population helps a country in determining its provision of services.

North Korea KP: Population: Male: Ages 55-59: % of Male Population data was reported at 6.106 % in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 6.307 % for 2016. North Korea KP: Population: Male: Ages 55-59: % of Male Population data is updated yearly, averaging 2.879 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 6.307 % in 2016 and a record low of 2.134 % in 1978. North Korea KP: Population: Male: Ages 55-59: % of Male Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s North Korea – Table KP.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Male population between the ages 55 to 59 as a percentage of the total male population.; ; World Bank staff estimates based on age/sex distributions of United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision.; ;

North Korea KP: Population: as % of Total: Male: Aged 0-14 data was reported at 21.542 % in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 21.803 % for 2016. North Korea KP: Population: as % of Total: Male: Aged 0-14 data is updated yearly, averaging 29.534 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 45.089 % in 1971 and a record low of 21.542 % in 2017. North Korea KP: Population: as % of Total: Male: Aged 0-14 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s North Korea – Table KP.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Male population between the ages 0 to 14 as a percentage of the total male population. Population is based on the de facto definition of population.; ; World Bank staff estimates based on age/sex distributions of United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision.; Weighted average;