Demographic profile
North Korea is the 57th most populous of the 238 countries and territories tracked on this site, home to about 0.3% of everyone alive. Within Eastern Asia, it ranks 4 of 8.
Each day brings roughly 522 births and 557 deaths — a net decline of about 12,783 people a year. At -0.05% annually. Real trajectories bend as fertility, mortality and migration shift, which is why the chart below shows both history and projection.
Among its first-level divisions, the largest by our modelled allocation is North Pyongan, holding an estimated 26.7% of the national population. The full breakdown of all 13 states and regions is in the table below — regional figures outside Sudan are modelled estimates built on real region names, and are flagged as such.
Literacy stands near 96.0% and adult smoking prevalence around 24.0%, with life expectancy at about 70.7 years. Baselines come from UN World Population Prospects, the World Bank, WHO surveys, WorldPop and HDX; the counters project them forward in real time — the method, and every caveat, is documented on our data sources page.
Quick answers
What is the population of North Korea in 2026? Approximately 25,446,832 people (live projection; the counter above updates every second).
How fast is North Korea shrinking? About -0.05% per year — roughly 522 births and 557 deaths every day.
What share of the world lives in North Korea? Around 0.3% — ranked 57 worldwide by population.