North Korea's Total Size & Land Area: rank & territory types

North Korea's land area is 46,491 sq mi, and the total size is 46,541 sq mi, with inland water included. North Korea rankes 96/197 by total surface area.

Occupies 0.08% of the land mass of all countries.
21.6% of its territory is agricultural land.
N. Korea has 0.05% of the world's agricultural land area.
49.6% of its area is covered by forests.
Has 0.15% of the world's forests.

North Korea total size and land area

	North Korea	Rank
Total surface area	46,541 sq mi	96/197
Share all of all countries' surface area	0.02%	N/A
Land area	46,491 sq mi	97/197
Share of all countries' land area	0.08%	N/A
Population	26,498,823	56/197
Population density	573 ppl/mi²	52/197

North Korea's True Size on the Map

Drag North Korea across the map to see how the Mercator projection distorts its apparent size at different latitudes. Add more countries to compare.

North Korea's area by type

	North Korea	Rank
Forest area	23,036 sq mi	70/196
Forest area as share of land	49.6%	49/196
World's forests share	0.15%	N/A
Agricultural land	10,021 sq mi	109/194
Agricultural land share	21.6%	141/194
Share of global agricultural land	0.05%	N/A
Arable land	8,861 sq mi	79/191
Arable land share	19.1%	56/191
Permanent cropland	966 sq mi	77/192
Permanent cropland share	2.08%	84/192
Water area	50.2 sq mi	137/197
Water as share of total area	0.11%	153/197
Roads length	15,879 mi	88/176
Land borders length	999 mi	101/197
Coastline length	1,550 mi	43/197
Share of marine protected waters	0%	149/155

North Korea's size on the map

Data sources: World Bank | Agriculture & Rural Development (2026, retrieved 2026-04-06).

GeoRank.org/size/north-korea | CC BY

The map above outlines the borders of North Korea but is not accurate for size comparison because it's a 2d map with Mercator projection that distorts territories near the poles. The farther a country is from the equator, the more magnified it appears. More about country size projections.