---
title: "North Korea — capital, area, population and currency"
description: "North Korea: capital Pyongyang, area 120,538 km², population 26,571,036 (2025), currency North Korean won. Languages, time zones and calling code."
url: https://atoneplace.net/country/north-korea/
site: "At One Place"
---

# North Korea

**North Korea: Capital Pyongyang**

120,538 km² · 26,571,036 people (2025) · North Korean won

About eighty percent mountain or upland. Paektu on the Chinese border is 2,744 m and holds Heaven Lake, a caldera lake roughly 4 km across and over 200 m deep, formed by an eruption around AD 946 that was one of the largest of the last two thousand years.

## The facts

- **Capital:** Pyongyang
- **Area:** 120,538 km² — 46,540 sq mi
- **Population:** 26,571,036 (2025)
- **Density:** 220.4 people per km²
- **Currency:** North Korean won (KPW, ₩)
- **Official language:** Korean
- **Time zone:** UTC+09:00
- **Calling code:** +850
- **Drives on the:** right
- **ISO codes:** KP · PRK
- **Continent:** Asia

## How it compares

- **By area:** 98 of 200
- **By population:** 56 of 200

> Population is the only figure on this page that dates — it is a 2025 estimate and will drift. Area, capital, currency, languages, calling code and driving side change rarely or never.

## Countries of a similar size

| Country | Area (km²) | Population |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Greece | 131,957 | 10,413,962 |
| Nicaragua | 130,370 | 7,007,502 |
| North Korea ← | 120,538 | 26,571,036 |
| Malawi | 118,484 | 22,216,120 |
| Eritrea | 117,600 | 3,607,003 |

## Common questions

### What is the capital of North Korea?

Pyongyang

### What currency does North Korea use?

The North Korean won (KPW).

### How big is North Korea?

120,538 km², or 46,540 square miles — 98 of 200 by area.

### Which side of the road does North Korea drive on?

The right.

## Related pages

- [Greece](https://atoneplace.net/country/greece/)
- [Nicaragua](https://atoneplace.net/country/nicaragua/)
- [Malawi](https://atoneplace.net/country/malawi/)
- [Eritrea](https://atoneplace.net/country/eritrea/)
- [India](https://atoneplace.net/country/india/)
- [China](https://atoneplace.net/country/china/)
- [Indonesia](https://atoneplace.net/country/indonesia/)
- [Pakistan](https://atoneplace.net/country/pakistan/)
- [Bangladesh](https://atoneplace.net/country/bangladesh/)
- [Japan](https://atoneplace.net/country/japan/)
- [Philippines](https://atoneplace.net/country/philippines/)
- [Vietnam](https://atoneplace.net/country/vietnam/)

## Sources

- The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency (https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/) [Public domain (US Government)]
- World Bank Open Data — The World Bank (https://data.worldbank.org/) [CC BY 4.0]