Demographics of North Korea

Source	UN (World Population Prospects 2024)
Date	06 Feb 2025

As of 2025, the population of North Korea is projected at 26.57 million, compared to 26.50 million in 2024. It ranks 56th in the world by population and 21st in Asia. The population growth rate for 2025 is projected at 0.25 percent, the 158th highest among 237 countries and dependent territories.

There are 13.15 million males and 13.42 million females in North Korea. The percentage of the male population is 49.51%, compared to 50.49% of the female population. North Korea has 262k more females than males. The sex ratio in North Korea in 2025 will be 98.047 males per 100 females. North Korea is in the 114th position in terms of the female-to-male ratio.

North Korea population

Year	Population			Growth (%)	M per 100 F
Year	Male	Female	Total	Growth (%)	M per 100 F
1950	5,112,310	6,004,426	11,116,736	-5.00	85.142
1955	4,605,977	5,797,347	10,403,325	1.80	79.450
1960	5,302,173	6,420,779	11,722,953	2.37	82.578
1965	6,088,966	7,130,403	13,219,369	2.54	85.394
1970	7,110,842	8,061,932	15,172,775	2.68	88.203
1975	8,053,772	8,917,283	16,971,055	1.70	90.316
1980	8,722,565	9,514,221	18,236,786	1.40	91.679
1985	9,450,682	10,169,706	19,620,388	1.47	92.930
1990	10,233,335	10,878,801	21,112,137	1.48	94.067
1995	11,037,982	11,631,322	22,669,304	1.02	94.899
2000	11,549,047	12,116,863	23,665,910	0.67	95.314
2005	11,916,431	12,480,003	24,396,433	0.53	95.484
2010	12,219,535	12,767,724	24,987,258	0.44	95.706
2015	12,562,727	13,012,623	25,575,350	0.48	96.543
2020	12,885,558	13,250,754	26,136,312	0.36	97.244
2021	12,942,570	13,289,963	26,232,534	0.37	97.386
2022	13,002,441	13,326,404	26,328,845	0.36	97.569
2023	13,058,006	13,360,198	26,418,204	0.32	97.738
2024	13,108,717	13,390,106	26,498,823	0.29	97.899
2025	13,154,539	13,416,497	26,571,036	0.25	98.047

Life expectancy
Median age
Fertility rate

Demographics Indicators

Year	Life expectancy	Median age	Fertility rate
1950	14.201	16.299	4.994
1955	51.766	17.293	3.674
1960	55.814	18.908	3.568
1965	58.785	20.208	3.556
1970	62.049	20.443	3.848
1975	64.831	19.699	3.047
1980	67.208	21.353	2.841
1985	69.231	23.126	2.646
1990	70.484	24.890	2.388
1995	60.766	26.877	2.146
2000	60.911	29.072	1.941
2005	69.168	31.351	1.872
2010	70.246	33.046	1.890
2015	72.825	34.176	1.863
2020	72.783	35.347	1.821
2021	73.437	35.570	1.806
2022	73.641	35.805	1.797
2023	73.642	36.048	1.780
2024	73.743	36.294	1.784
2025	73.859	36.545	1.768

Total
Crude

North Korea death and birth rate

Year	Total		Crude(per 1000)
Year	Death	Birth	Crude death	Crude birth
1950	816,320	451,526	73.432	40.617
1955	131,238	353,878	12.615	34.016
1960	130,735	408,457	11.152	34.842
1965	132,324	467,906	10.010	35.396
1970	129,118	535,250	8.510	35.277
1975	117,408	406,366	6.918	23.945
1980	111,334	366,545	6.105	20.099
1985	112,073	399,784	5.712	20.376
1990	119,292	431,740	5.650	20.450
1995	227,794	461,184	10.049	20.344
2000	253,064	414,658	10.693	17.521
2005	206,414	339,174	8.461	13.903
2010	219,745	332,183	8.794	13.294
2015	215,942	343,289	8.443	13.423
2020	254,074	349,983	9.721	13.391
2021	248,321	348,026	9.466	13.267
2022	249,694	346,185	9.484	13.149
2023	255,826	342,038	9.684	12.947
2024	261,229	340,728	9.858	12.858
2025	264,688	334,881	9.962	12.603

Population
Urbanization

Urban and rural population of North Korea

Year	Population		Urban (%)
Year	Urban	Rural	Urban (%)
1950	3,270,336	7,279,136	31.000
1955	3,577,106	6,509,885	35.463
1960	4,591,910	6,832,266	40.195
1965	5,657,767	6,889,758	45.091
1970	7,810,437	6,599,963	54.200
1975	9,227,778	7,046,962	56.700
1980	9,941,648	7,530,492	56.900
1985	10,881,506	7,995,732	57.644
1990	11,847,860	8,445,194	58.384
1995	12,902,762	8,959,537	59.018
2000	13,622,723	9,306,352	59.412
2005	14,295,919	9,608,248	59.805
2010	14,847,551	9,744,048	60.377
2015	15,468,816	9,775,101	61.277
2020	16,119,904	9,720,959	62.381
2021	16,256,188	9,694,574	62.642
2022	16,394,046	9,662,808	62.916
2023	16,533,344	9,625,647	63.203
2024	16,673,964	9,583,099	63.503

Population pyramid
Gender ratio

North Korea population by Age Group (2024)

Age group	Male	Female	Total		M per 100 F
Age group	Male	Female	Persons	Share (%)	M per 100 F
00-04	870,037	822,923	1,692,959	6.37	105.725
05-09	873,114	827,598	1,700,712	6.40	105.500
10-14	838,610	797,157	1,635,766	6.16	105.200
15-19	833,533	794,693	1,628,226	6.13	104.887
20-24	893,346	856,297	1,749,642	6.58	104.327
25-29	984,395	947,466	1,931,861	7.27	103.898
30-34	1,007,569	975,626	1,983,196	7.46	103.274
35-39	943,604	919,927	1,863,531	7.01	102.574
40-44	876,530	860,211	1,736,741	6.54	101.897
45-49	803,795	796,614	1,600,409	6.02	100.901
50-54	1,010,351	1,017,836	2,028,187	7.63	99.265
55-59	1,021,177	1,051,501	2,072,677	7.80	97.116
60-64	760,839	809,091	1,569,929	5.91	94.036
65-69	613,626	682,559	1,296,185	4.88	89.901
70-74	330,654	399,505	730,159	2.75	82.766
75-79	274,832	399,711	674,543	2.54	68.758
80-84	152,703	279,224	431,928	1.63	54.688
85-89	55,621	137,667	193,289	0.73	40.403
90-94	9,398	35,459	44,857	0.17	26.504
95-99	772	5,059	5,832	0.02	15.260
100+	33	376	408	0.00	8.777
Total	13,154,539	13,416,500	26,571,037		98.047