Population in North Korea compared to South Korea: Trends, Charts, Rankings

North Korea and South Korea: population history and growth rate by year chart

Table

Year	Population		Growth rate
	North Korea	South Korea	North Korea	South Korea
1960	11,722,953	25,012,374	-	-
1961	11,990,713	25,765,673	2.28%	3.01%
1962	12,262,882	26,513,030	2.27%	2.9%
1963	12,567,057	27,261,747	2.48%	2.82%
1964	12,889,770	27,984,155	2.57%	2.65%
1965	13,219,369	28,704,674	2.56%	2.57%
1966	13,569,094	29,435,571	2.65%	2.55%
1967	13,958,350	30,130,983	2.87%	2.36%
1968	14,365,596	30,838,302	2.92%	2.35%
1969	14,767,615	31,544,266	2.8%	2.29%
1970	15,172,775	32,240,827	2.74%	2.21%
1971	15,572,457	32,882,704	2.63%	1.99%
1972	15,975,069	33,505,406	2.59%	1.89%
1973	16,350,367	34,103,149	2.35%	1.78%
1974	16,673,121	34,692,266	1.97%	1.73%
1975	16,971,055	35,280,725	1.79%	1.7%
1976	17,243,450	35,848,523	1.61%	1.61%
1977	17,492,798	36,411,795	1.45%	1.57%
1978	17,735,995	36,969,185	1.39%	1.53%
1979	17,983,470	37,534,236	1.4%	1.53%
1980	18,236,786	38,123,775	1.41%	1.57%
1981	18,501,295	38,723,248	1.45%	1.57%
1982	18,776,357	39,326,352	1.49%	1.56%
1983	19,054,034	39,910,403	1.48%	1.49%
1984	19,335,043	40,405,956	1.47%	1.24%
1985	19,620,388	40,805,744	1.48%	0.99%
1986	19,910,855	41,213,674	1.48%	1%
1987	20,205,483	41,621,690	1.48%	0.99%
1988	20,503,161	42,031,247	1.47%	0.98%
1989	20,804,367	42,449,038	1.47%	0.99%
1990	21,112,137	42,869,283	1.48%	0.99%
1991	21,428,638	43,295,704	1.5%	0.99%
1992	21,750,911	43,747,962	1.5%	1.04%
1993	22,073,352	44,194,628	1.48%	1.02%
1994	22,393,975	44,641,540	1.45%	1.01%
1995	22,669,304	45,092,991	1.23%	1.01%
1996	22,895,746	45,524,681	1%	0.96%
1997	23,110,830	45,953,580	0.94%	0.94%
1998	23,311,564	46,286,503	0.87%	0.72%
1999	23,497,599	46,616,677	0.8%	0.71%
2000	23,665,910	47,008,111	0.72%	0.84%
2001	23,815,358	47,370,164	0.63%	0.77%
2002	23,943,973	47,644,736	0.54%	0.58%
2003	24,090,380	47,892,330	0.61%	0.52%
2004	24,254,943	48,082,519	0.68%	0.4%
2005	24,396,433	48,184,561	0.58%	0.21%
2006	24,524,507	48,438,292	0.52%	0.53%
2007	24,646,383	48,683,638	0.5%	0.51%
2008	24,764,618	49,054,708	0.48%	0.76%
2009	24,878,332	49,307,835	0.46%	0.52%
2010	24,987,258	49,554,112	0.44%	0.5%
2011	25,097,874	49,936,638	0.44%	0.77%
2012	25,211,728	50,199,853	0.45%	0.53%
2013	25,329,451	50,428,893	0.47%	0.46%
2014	25,451,262	50,746,659	0.48%	0.63%
2015	25,575,350	51,014,947	0.49%	0.53%
2016	25,698,326	51,217,803	0.48%	0.4%
2017	25,817,709	51,361,911	0.46%	0.28%
2018	25,931,147	51,585,058	0.44%	0.43%
2019	26,037,632	51,764,822	0.41%	0.35%
2020	26,136,312	51,836,239	0.38%	0.14%
2021	26,232,534	51,769,539	0.37%	-0.13%
2022	26,328,845	51,672,569	0.37%	-0.19%
2023	26,418,204	51,712,619	0.34%	0.08%
2024	26,498,823	51,751,065	0.31%	0.07%
2025	26,571,033	51,700,480	0.27%	-0.1%
2026	26,633,682	51,633,793	0.24%	-0.13%
2027	26,686,492	51,552,198	0.2%	-0.16%
2028	26,729,261	51,456,707	0.16%	-0.19%
2029	26,762,008	51,347,230	0.12%	-0.21%
2030	26,784,894	51,221,713	0.09%	-0.24%
2031	26,797,946	51,081,220	0.05%	-0.27%
2032	26,801,071	50,924,233	0.01%	-0.31%
2033	26,795,061	50,747,132	-0.02%	-0.35%
2034	26,780,481	50,549,508	-0.05%	-0.39%
2035	26,757,705	50,333,286	-0.09%	-0.43%
2036	26,727,309	50,098,951	-0.11%	-0.47%
2037	26,689,907	49,845,669	-0.14%	-0.51%
2038	26,646,323	49,573,234	-0.16%	-0.55%
2039	26,596,967	49,283,770	-0.19%	-0.58%
2040	26,542,417	48,980,369	-0.21%	-0.62%
2041	26,483,475	48,661,905	-0.22%	-0.65%
2042	26,420,812	48,331,004	-0.24%	-0.68%
2043	26,354,324	47,990,085	-0.25%	-0.71%
2044	26,284,000	47,634,183	-0.27%	-0.74%
2045	26,210,196	47,263,526	-0.28%	-0.78%
2046	26,132,922	46,881,228	-0.29%	-0.81%
2047	26,052,086	46,482,133	-0.31%	-0.85%
2048	25,967,581	46,063,595	-0.32%	-0.9%
2049	25,879,244	45,626,805	-0.34%	-0.95%
2050	25,787,120	45,172,356	-0.36%	-1%

From 2005 to 2015, the population of North Korea increased by 1,178,917 people (a 4.83% growth), while South Korea gained 2,830,386 people (a 5.87% growth).

For the next 10 years, from 2015 to 2025, North Korea gained 1,046,007 (a 4.09% growth), while South Korea's population increased by 685,533 (a 1.34% growth).

North Korea was ranked 46th most populous country in 2005 and is 56th in 2025. South Korea was ranked 25th in 2005 and ranked 31st 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 South Korea will decrease by 12.6% to 45,172,356 people and rank change from 31st to 48th.