The latest officially reported population of North Korea was 26,498,823 in 2024 vs 10,576,502 people in Papua New Guinea in 2024. In 2025, based on the adjusted UN estimation, the current North Korea's population is 26,621,357 people compared to 10,911,445 in Papua New Guinea.
Population statistics:
- North Korea's population is 2.44 times bigger than Papua New Guinea's.
- North Korea is ranked the 56th most populous country in the world, while Papua New Guinea is the 90th.
- The countries together account for 0.45% of the world: 0.32% for North Korea vs 0.13% for Papua New Guinea.
- For the last 10 years, North Korea has had an average growth rate of +0.41% per year vs +2.23% in Papua New Guinea.
- Since 2005, the population of North Korea has increased from 24.4M people to 26.6M (9.12% growth), while Papua New Guinea has grown from 6.54M to 10.9M (66.9% growth).
- North Korea is projected to reach its peak in 2032 at 26.8M people compared to the peak of 18.6M people in 2100 for Papua New Guinea.
North Korea vs Papua New Guinea: live population counter
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Current population |
26621357
|
10911445
|
| Population rank | 56/197 | 90/197 |
| Percent of world population | 0.32% | 0.13% |
| One net population change |
6.52 minutes
|
2.81 minutes
|
| One birth every |
1.54 minutes
|
2.06 minutes
|
| One death every |
2.05 minutes
|
7.76 minutes
|
| One migration net change every |
3.54 hours
|
12.4 hours
|
| Annual migration change | -2,473 | -707 |
| Daily growth/decline | +221 | +512 |
| Annual growth/decline | +80,619 | +186,867 |
| Annual growth/decline rate | +0.31% | +1.8% |
| Population growth rate rank | 149/197 | 61/197 |
North Korea and Papua New Guinea: population history and growth rate by year chart
| Year | Population | Growth rate | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1960 | 11,722,953 | 1,995,110 | - | - |
| 1961 | 11,990,713 | 2,046,127 | 2.28% | 2.56% |
| 1962 | 12,262,882 | 2,093,919 | 2.27% | 2.34% |
| 1963 | 12,567,057 | 2,141,376 | 2.48% | 2.27% |
| 1964 | 12,889,770 | 2,188,325 | 2.57% | 2.19% |
| 1965 | 13,219,369 | 2,235,820 | 2.56% | 2.17% |
| 1966 | 13,569,094 | 2,285,774 | 2.65% | 2.23% |
| 1967 | 13,958,350 | 2,337,532 | 2.87% | 2.26% |
| 1968 | 14,365,596 | 2,390,803 | 2.92% | 2.28% |
| 1969 | 14,767,615 | 2,446,927 | 2.8% | 2.35% |
| 1970 | 15,172,775 | 2,505,628 | 2.74% | 2.4% |
| 1971 | 15,572,457 | 2,566,421 | 2.63% | 2.43% |
| 1972 | 15,975,069 | 2,628,432 | 2.59% | 2.42% |
| 1973 | 16,350,367 | 2,690,629 | 2.35% | 2.37% |
| 1974 | 16,673,121 | 2,752,671 | 1.97% | 2.31% |
| 1975 | 16,971,055 | 2,814,820 | 1.79% | 2.26% |
| 1976 | 17,243,450 | 2,877,327 | 1.61% | 2.22% |
| 1977 | 17,492,798 | 2,940,327 | 1.45% | 2.19% |
| 1978 | 17,735,995 | 3,003,714 | 1.39% | 2.16% |
| 1979 | 17,983,470 | 3,067,341 | 1.4% | 2.12% |
| 1980 | 18,236,786 | 3,131,512 | 1.41% | 2.09% |
| 1981 | 18,501,295 | 3,197,019 | 1.45% | 2.09% |
| 1982 | 18,776,357 | 3,264,291 | 1.49% | 2.1% |
| 1983 | 19,054,034 | 3,333,633 | 1.48% | 2.12% |
| 1984 | 19,335,043 | 3,405,198 | 1.47% | 2.15% |
| 1985 | 19,620,388 | 3,478,936 | 1.48% | 2.17% |
| 1986 | 19,910,855 | 3,554,793 | 1.48% | 2.18% |
| 1987 | 20,205,483 | 3,632,543 | 1.48% | 2.19% |
| 1988 | 20,503,161 | 3,711,880 | 1.47% | 2.18% |
| 1989 | 20,804,367 | 3,796,078 | 1.47% | 2.27% |
| 1990 | 21,112,137 | 3,896,481 | 1.48% | 2.64% |
| 1991 | 21,428,638 | 4,021,837 | 1.5% | 3.22% |
| 1992 | 21,750,911 | 4,166,699 | 1.5% | 3.6% |
| 1993 | 22,073,352 | 4,320,872 | 1.48% | 3.7% |
| 1994 | 22,393,975 | 4,480,208 | 1.45% | 3.69% |
| 1995 | 22,669,304 | 4,644,278 | 1.23% | 3.66% |
| 1996 | 22,895,746 | 4,813,361 | 1% | 3.64% |
| 1997 | 23,110,830 | 4,987,883 | 0.94% | 3.63% |
| 1998 | 23,311,564 | 5,166,390 | 0.87% | 3.58% |
| 1999 | 23,497,599 | 5,349,333 | 0.8% | 3.54% |
| 2000 | 23,665,910 | 5,537,064 | 0.72% | 3.51% |
| 2001 | 23,815,358 | 5,728,435 | 0.63% | 3.46% |
| 2002 | 23,943,973 | 5,924,003 | 0.54% | 3.41% |
| 2003 | 24,090,380 | 6,123,997 | 0.61% | 3.38% |
| 2004 | 24,254,943 | 6,328,041 | 0.68% | 3.33% |
| 2005 | 24,396,433 | 6,535,905 | 0.58% | 3.28% |
| 2006 | 24,524,507 | 6,747,720 | 0.52% | 3.24% |
| 2007 | 24,646,383 | 6,963,345 | 0.5% | 3.2% |
| 2008 | 24,764,618 | 7,183,002 | 0.48% | 3.15% |
| 2009 | 24,878,332 | 7,406,438 | 0.46% | 3.11% |
| 2010 | 24,987,258 | 7,633,523 | 0.44% | 3.07% |
| 2011 | 25,097,874 | 7,859,346 | 0.44% | 2.96% |
| 2012 | 25,211,728 | 8,081,390 | 0.45% | 2.83% |
| 2013 | 25,329,451 | 8,302,698 | 0.47% | 2.74% |
| 2014 | 25,451,262 | 8,523,441 | 0.48% | 2.66% |
| 2015 | 25,575,350 | 8,743,246 | 0.49% | 2.58% |
| 2016 | 25,698,326 | 8,961,718 | 0.48% | 2.5% |
| 2017 | 25,817,709 | 9,178,714 | 0.46% | 2.42% |
| 2018 | 25,931,147 | 9,394,513 | 0.44% | 2.35% |
| 2019 | 26,037,632 | 9,609,010 | 0.41% | 2.28% |
| 2020 | 26,136,312 | 9,815,746 | 0.38% | 2.15% |
| 2021 | 26,232,534 | 10,012,896 | 0.37% | 2.01% |
| 2022 | 26,328,845 | 10,203,169 | 0.37% | 1.9% |
| 2023 | 26,418,204 | 10,389,635 | 0.34% | 1.83% |
| 2024 | 26,498,823 | 10,576,502 | 0.31% | 1.8% |
| 2025 | 26,571,033 | 10,762,813 | 0.27% | 1.76% |
| 2026 | 26,633,682 | 10,947,845 | 0.24% | 1.72% |
| 2027 | 26,686,492 | 11,131,268 | 0.2% | 1.68% |
| 2028 | 26,729,261 | 11,312,895 | 0.16% | 1.63% |
| 2029 | 26,762,008 | 11,492,799 | 0.12% | 1.59% |
| 2030 | 26,784,894 | 11,671,420 | 0.09% | 1.55% |
| 2031 | 26,797,946 | 11,848,221 | 0.05% | 1.51% |
| 2032 | 26,801,071 | 12,023,121 | 0.01% | 1.48% |
| 2033 | 26,795,061 | 12,196,639 | -0.02% | 1.44% |
| 2034 | 26,780,481 | 12,369,248 | -0.05% | 1.42% |
| 2035 | 26,757,705 | 12,540,596 | -0.09% | 1.39% |
| 2036 | 26,727,309 | 12,710,682 | -0.11% | 1.36% |
| 2037 | 26,689,907 | 12,879,737 | -0.14% | 1.33% |
| 2038 | 26,646,323 | 13,047,122 | -0.16% | 1.3% |
| 2039 | 26,596,967 | 13,212,668 | -0.19% | 1.27% |
| 2040 | 26,542,417 | 13,376,156 | -0.21% | 1.24% |
| 2041 | 26,483,475 | 13,537,361 | -0.22% | 1.21% |
| 2042 | 26,420,812 | 13,696,139 | -0.24% | 1.17% |
| 2043 | 26,354,324 | 13,853,410 | -0.25% | 1.15% |
| 2044 | 26,284,000 | 14,009,926 | -0.27% | 1.13% |
| 2045 | 26,210,196 | 14,165,578 | -0.28% | 1.11% |
| 2046 | 26,132,922 | 14,318,889 | -0.29% | 1.08% |
| 2047 | 26,052,086 | 14,469,210 | -0.31% | 1.05% |
| 2048 | 25,967,581 | 14,617,364 | -0.32% | 1.02% |
| 2049 | 25,879,244 | 14,763,600 | -0.34% | 1% |
| 2050 | 25,787,120 | 14,906,584 | -0.36% | 0.97% |
From 2005 to 2015, the population of North Korea increased by 1,178,917 people (a 4.83% growth), while Papua New Guinea gained 2,207,341 people (a 33.8% growth).
For the next 10 years, from 2015 to 2025, North Korea gained 1,046,007 (a 4.09% growth), while Papua New Guinea's population increased by 2,168,199 (a 24.8% growth).
North Korea was ranked 46th most populous country in 2005 and is 56th in 2025. Papua New Guinea was ranked 100th in 2005 and ranked 90th now.
The UN's World Population Prospects forecasts that with changing growth rate trends in 25 years (in 2050) North Korea's population will shrink by 3.13% to 25,787,120 people with a rank change from 56th to 66th. The population of Papua New Guinea will increase by 36.6% to 14,906,584 people and rank change from 90th to 85th.
Biggest cities by population
|
|
|
|---|---|
| City | Population |
| Pyongyang | 2.86M |
| Hamhung | 769K |
| Chongjin | 668K |
| Sunchon | 437K |
| Nampo | 367K |
| Wonsan | 363K |
| Sinuiju | 359K |
| Tanchon | 346K |
| Kaechon | 320K |
| Kaesong | 308K |
|
|
|
|---|---|
| City | Population |
| Port Moresby | 317K |
| Lae | 101K |
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Population differences between North Korea and Papua New Guinea
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Life expectancy | 73.9 years | 66.4 years |
| Average age | 38 years | 26.7 years |
| Median age | 37.3 years | 23.6 years |
| Male:Female ratio | 49.5:50.5 | 51.4:48.6 |
| Fertility rate | 1.78 births per woman | 3.1 births per woman |
| Population density | 570 ppl/mi² | 60.5 ppl/mi² |
Population map with other countries
Population
Growth rate visualization in other countries
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