Demographic profile
South Korea is the 32nd most populous of the 238 countries and territories tracked on this site, home to about 0.62% of everyone alive. Within Eastern Asia, it ranks 3 of 8.
Each day brings roughly 633 births and 1,027 deaths — a net decline of about 143,905 people a year. At -0.28% annually, the population would halve in roughly 250 years if the trend held. 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 South Gyeongsang, holding an estimated 24.1% of the national population. The full breakdown of all 17 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 98.8% and adult smoking prevalence around 20.8%, with life expectancy at about 74.4 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 South Korea in 2026? Approximately 51,400,265 people (live projection; the counter above updates every second).
How fast is South Korea shrinking? About -0.28% per year — roughly 633 births and 1,027 deaths every day.
What share of the world lives in South Korea? Around 0.62% — ranked 32 worldwide by population.