At One Place

South Korea

South Korea
Capital Seoul
99,720 km² · 51,684,564 people (2025) · South Korean won

About seventy percent mountain, so the population is packed into the valleys and coastal plains; the Seoul metropolitan area holds roughly half the country. Jeju Island is a shield volcano whose lava tube system is among the finest in the world. South Korea has the fastest average internet connections of any large country.

The facts

Capital
Seoul
Area
99,720 km² — 38,502 sq mi
Population
51,684,564 (2025)
Density
518.3 people per km²
Currency
South Korean won (KRW, ₩)
Official language
Korean
Time zone
UTC+09:00
Calling code
+82
Drives on the
right
ISO codes
KR · KOR
Continent
Asia

How it compares

By area
108 of 200
By population
29 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
Guatemala 108,889 18,687,881
Iceland 103,000 392,404
South Korea ← 99,720 51,684,564
Hungary 93,028 9,514,251
Portugal 92,090 10,804,871

Common questions

What is the capital of South Korea?
Seoul
What currency does South Korea use?
The South Korean won (KRW).
How big is South Korea?
99,720 km², or 38,502 square miles — 108 of 200 by area.
Which side of the road does South Korea drive on?
The right.

Related pages

Sources

  1. The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency (Public domain (US Government))
  2. World Bank Open Data — The World Bank (CC BY 4.0)

How these figures are compiled and checked