The latest officially reported population of North Korea was 26,498,823 in 2024 vs 24,672,760 people in Syria in 2024. In 2025, based on the adjusted UN estimation, the current North Korea's population is 26,621,357 people compared to 26,304,877 in Syria.
Population statistics:
- North Korea's population is 1.01 times bigger than Syria's.
- North Korea is ranked the 56th most populous country in the world, while Syria is the 57th.
- The countries together account for 0.64% of the world: 0.32% for North Korea vs 0.32% for Syria.
- For the last 10 years, North Korea has had an average growth rate of +0.41% per year vs +1.25% in Syria.
- Since 2005, the population of North Korea has increased from 24.4M people to 26.6M (9.12% growth), while Syria has grown from 18.8M to 26.3M (39.8% growth).
- North Korea is projected to reach its peak in 2032 at 26.8M people compared to the peak of 44.1M people in 2086 for Syria.
North Korea vs Syria: live population counter
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Current population |
26621357
|
26304877
|
| Population rank | 56/197 | 57/197 |
| Percent of world population | 0.32% | 0.32% |
| One net population change |
6.52 minutes
|
29.3 seconds
|
| One birth every |
1.54 minutes
|
1.01 minutes
|
| One death every |
2.05 minutes
|
4.42 minutes
|
| One migration net change every |
3.54 hours
|
57.7 seconds
|
| Annual migration change | -2,473 | +546,494 |
| Daily growth/decline | +221 | +2,954 |
| Annual growth/decline | +80,619 | +1,078,137 |
| Annual growth/decline rate | +0.31% | +4.57% |
| Population growth rate rank | 149/197 | 5/197 |
North Korea and Syria: population history and growth rate by year chart
| Year | Population | Growth rate | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1960 | 11,722,953 | 4,673,500 | - | - |
| 1961 | 11,990,713 | 4,815,466 | 2.28% | 3.04% |
| 1962 | 12,262,882 | 4,959,340 | 2.27% | 2.99% |
| 1963 | 12,567,057 | 5,110,467 | 2.48% | 3.05% |
| 1964 | 12,889,770 | 5,269,087 | 2.57% | 3.1% |
| 1965 | 13,219,369 | 5,435,267 | 2.56% | 3.15% |
| 1966 | 13,569,094 | 5,609,047 | 2.65% | 3.2% |
| 1967 | 13,958,350 | 5,790,198 | 2.87% | 3.23% |
| 1968 | 14,365,596 | 5,978,742 | 2.92% | 3.26% |
| 1969 | 14,767,615 | 6,175,166 | 2.8% | 3.29% |
| 1970 | 15,172,775 | 6,380,609 | 2.74% | 3.33% |
| 1971 | 15,572,457 | 6,598,094 | 2.63% | 3.41% |
| 1972 | 15,975,069 | 6,826,024 | 2.59% | 3.45% |
| 1973 | 16,350,367 | 7,060,321 | 2.35% | 3.43% |
| 1974 | 16,673,121 | 7,302,160 | 1.97% | 3.43% |
| 1975 | 16,971,055 | 7,554,364 | 1.79% | 3.45% |
| 1976 | 17,243,450 | 7,817,320 | 1.61% | 3.48% |
| 1977 | 17,492,798 | 8,090,501 | 1.45% | 3.49% |
| 1978 | 17,735,995 | 8,372,759 | 1.39% | 3.49% |
| 1979 | 17,983,470 | 8,661,909 | 1.4% | 3.45% |
| 1980 | 18,236,786 | 8,957,663 | 1.41% | 3.41% |
| 1981 | 18,501,295 | 9,260,189 | 1.45% | 3.38% |
| 1982 | 18,776,357 | 9,572,511 | 1.49% | 3.37% |
| 1983 | 19,054,034 | 9,904,809 | 1.48% | 3.47% |
| 1984 | 19,335,043 | 10,258,398 | 1.47% | 3.57% |
| 1985 | 19,620,388 | 10,625,672 | 1.48% | 3.58% |
| 1986 | 19,910,855 | 11,002,844 | 1.48% | 3.55% |
| 1987 | 20,205,483 | 11,388,923 | 1.48% | 3.51% |
| 1988 | 20,503,161 | 11,782,264 | 1.47% | 3.45% |
| 1989 | 20,804,367 | 12,179,060 | 1.47% | 3.37% |
| 1990 | 21,112,137 | 12,579,208 | 1.48% | 3.29% |
| 1991 | 21,428,638 | 12,980,821 | 1.5% | 3.19% |
| 1992 | 21,750,911 | 13,385,571 | 1.5% | 3.12% |
| 1993 | 22,073,352 | 13,795,686 | 1.48% | 3.06% |
| 1994 | 22,393,975 | 14,208,583 | 1.45% | 2.99% |
| 1995 | 22,669,304 | 14,616,801 | 1.23% | 2.87% |
| 1996 | 22,895,746 | 15,018,104 | 1% | 2.75% |
| 1997 | 23,110,830 | 15,417,542 | 0.94% | 2.66% |
| 1998 | 23,311,564 | 15,820,413 | 0.87% | 2.61% |
| 1999 | 23,497,599 | 16,228,061 | 0.8% | 2.58% |
| 2000 | 23,665,910 | 16,637,888 | 0.72% | 2.53% |
| 2001 | 23,815,358 | 17,051,338 | 0.63% | 2.48% |
| 2002 | 23,943,973 | 17,468,332 | 0.54% | 2.45% |
| 2003 | 24,090,380 | 17,889,296 | 0.61% | 2.41% |
| 2004 | 24,254,943 | 18,336,875 | 0.68% | 2.5% |
| 2005 | 24,396,433 | 18,814,091 | 0.58% | 2.6% |
| 2006 | 24,524,507 | 19,637,022 | 0.52% | 4.37% |
| 2007 | 24,646,383 | 20,884,125 | 0.5% | 6.35% |
| 2008 | 24,764,618 | 21,636,564 | 0.48% | 3.6% |
| 2009 | 24,878,332 | 21,976,969 | 0.46% | 1.57% |
| 2010 | 24,987,258 | 22,482,421 | 0.44% | 2.3% |
| 2011 | 25,097,874 | 22,878,098 | 0.44% | 1.76% |
| 2012 | 25,211,728 | 22,759,763 | 0.45% | -0.52% |
| 2013 | 25,329,451 | 21,666,917 | 0.47% | -4.8% |
| 2014 | 25,451,262 | 20,273,659 | 0.48% | -6.43% |
| 2015 | 25,575,350 | 19,424,618 | 0.49% | -4.19% |
| 2016 | 25,698,326 | 19,193,834 | 0.48% | -1.19% |
| 2017 | 25,817,709 | 19,224,668 | 0.46% | 0.16% |
| 2018 | 25,931,147 | 19,577,845 | 0.44% | 1.84% |
| 2019 | 26,037,632 | 20,353,534 | 0.41% | 3.96% |
| 2020 | 26,136,312 | 21,049,429 | 0.38% | 3.42% |
| 2021 | 26,232,534 | 21,628,839 | 0.37% | 2.75% |
| 2022 | 26,328,845 | 22,462,173 | 0.37% | 3.85% |
| 2023 | 26,418,204 | 23,594,623 | 0.34% | 5.04% |
| 2024 | 26,498,823 | 24,672,760 | 0.31% | 4.57% |
| 2025 | 26,571,033 | 25,620,422 | 0.27% | 3.84% |
| 2026 | 26,633,682 | 26,472,499 | 0.24% | 3.33% |
| 2027 | 26,686,492 | 27,261,544 | 0.2% | 2.98% |
| 2028 | 26,729,261 | 28,006,558 | 0.16% | 2.73% |
| 2029 | 26,762,008 | 28,719,309 | 0.12% | 2.54% |
| 2030 | 26,784,894 | 29,395,545 | 0.09% | 2.35% |
| 2031 | 26,797,946 | 30,029,824 | 0.05% | 2.16% |
| 2032 | 26,801,071 | 30,633,661 | 0.01% | 2.01% |
| 2033 | 26,795,061 | 31,212,478 | -0.02% | 1.89% |
| 2034 | 26,780,481 | 31,768,138 | -0.05% | 1.78% |
| 2035 | 26,757,705 | 32,294,792 | -0.09% | 1.66% |
| 2036 | 26,727,309 | 32,788,153 | -0.11% | 1.53% |
| 2037 | 26,689,907 | 33,258,407 | -0.14% | 1.43% |
| 2038 | 26,646,323 | 33,710,718 | -0.16% | 1.36% |
| 2039 | 26,596,967 | 34,131,238 | -0.19% | 1.25% |
| 2040 | 26,542,417 | 34,533,185 | -0.21% | 1.18% |
| 2041 | 26,483,475 | 34,916,936 | -0.22% | 1.11% |
| 2042 | 26,420,812 | 35,279,863 | -0.24% | 1.04% |
| 2043 | 26,354,324 | 35,623,325 | -0.25% | 0.97% |
| 2044 | 26,284,000 | 35,944,394 | -0.27% | 0.9% |
| 2045 | 26,210,196 | 36,265,295 | -0.28% | 0.89% |
| 2046 | 26,132,922 | 36,583,260 | -0.29% | 0.88% |
| 2047 | 26,052,086 | 36,878,640 | -0.31% | 0.81% |
| 2048 | 25,967,581 | 37,171,029 | -0.32% | 0.79% |
| 2049 | 25,879,244 | 37,477,690 | -0.34% | 0.83% |
| 2050 | 25,787,120 | 37,793,378 | -0.36% | 0.84% |
From 2005 to 2015, the population of North Korea increased by 1,178,917 people (a 4.83% growth), while Syria gained 610,527 people (a 3.25% growth).
For the next 10 years, from 2015 to 2025, North Korea gained 1,046,007 (a 4.09% growth), while Syria's population increased by 6,880,259 (a 35.4% growth).
North Korea was ranked 46th most populous country in 2005 and is 56th in 2025. Syria was ranked 58th in 2005 and ranked 57th 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 Syria will increase by 43.7% to 37,793,378 people and rank change from 57th to 54th.
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Population differences between North Korea and Syria
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Life expectancy | 73.9 years | 73 years |
| Average age | 38 years | 27.8 years |
| Median age | 37.3 years | 23.9 years |
| Male:Female ratio | 49.5:50.5 | 50:50 |
| Fertility rate | 1.78 births per woman | 2.71 births per woman |
| Population density | 570 ppl/mi² | 348 ppl/mi² |
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