Place comparison

Daegu compared with Taipei City: area, population and density

Daegu covers about 5.52 times Taipei City’s land with about 96% of its residents, so Taipei City is about 5.7 times as dense on average.

Place A Grouped by country or region Place B Grouped by country or region

Equal-area outline comparison

Outlines are centered and scaled by official land area; position does not show geographic location.

Area

Population

Population density

Area data date

Population data date

The guide below belongs to this pair: Daegu and Taipei City. Change the selector above and the page follows, so the reading always matches the tool.

Direct answer

How different are Daegu and Taipei City?

Daegu covers 1,499.7 km² (579 sq mi); Daegu's area is 5.52 times Taipei City's. Its reported population is 2,353,032; Daegu's population is about 96.5% of Taipei City's. By average density, Daegu's population density is about 17.5% of Taipei City's.

Area difference

Daegu's area is 5.52 times Taipei City's 1,499.7 km² (579 sq mi) · 271.8 km² (104.9 sq mi)

Population difference

Daegu's population is about 96.5% of Taipei City's 2,353,032 · 2,439,507

Density difference

Daegu's population density is about 17.5% of Taipei City's 1,569 /km² (4,064 /sq mi) · 8,975.4 /km² (23,246 /sq mi)

Full data and sources for each place: Daegu area & population, Taipei City area & population

Straight-line distance between geometric centres: about 1375 km; time difference: 1 hour.

On a familiar scale

Daegu ≈ 56% of Rhode Island (reference rung) 637 m² of land per resident
Taipei City ≈ 1.72 × Washington, D.C. (reference rung) 111 m² of land per resident

Reference scales come from U.S. Census Bureau: 2025 Gazetteer Files: land area of states and counties , as of 2025-01-01.

How to read it

Daegu and Taipei City hold almost the same number of people, yet Daegu’s territory is more than five times larger — a gap that widened sharply when Daegu absorbed rural Gunwi County in 2023.

Geography and shape

Daegu sits in an inland basin in south-eastern South Korea, ringed by mountains, with its built-up core on the basin floor. Since July 2023 its administrative territory has also included Gunwi County to the north, a largely rural area of farmland and hills. Taipei City is a compact river basin with no comparable rural annex, so this pair compares a city-plus-countryside with a city that is almost all city.

Population context

Daegu has 2,353,032 residents on 1,499.68 km², about 1,569 per km². Taipei City has 2,439,507 on 271.7997 km², about 8,975 per km². Taipei City has about 86,000 more people — about 3.7% more — on less than a fifth of the land, so its average density is about 5.7 times Daegu’s.

Boundaries and definitions

Daegu’s figures are resident registration population (주민등록인구) and official administrative area at 2025-12-31, from South Korea’s Ministry of the Interior and Safety; Taipei City uses household registration at year-end 2025. Daegu’s area includes Gunwi County, annexed in July 2023; older sources that give Daegu about 884 km² predate that merger. Because Gunwi is mostly rural, the area ratio overstates how much larger Daegu’s urban footprint is than Taipei City’s.

Daegu: Daegu Metropolitan City's full administrative territory, including Gunwi County, which Daegu annexed in July 2023 — the reason its area roughly doubled from about 884 km² to 1,499.68 km² in official tables published since then; an undated Daegu area figure may still use the pre-2023 scope. Population is resident registration population (주민등록인구) as at 2025-12-31, from this ministry's own annual administrative-area-and-population report — a different series from the Statistics Korea register-based census (등록센서스) that the South Korea and Seoul pages use, though the two series are usually close. Area is this same report's official administrative-area figure at 2025-12-31, not a figure computed from the map outline. This ministry's own administrative-area total for South Korea (100,517.62 km² at 2025-12-31) differs by about 0.06% from the 100,459.9 km² cadastral figure the South Korea and Seoul pages use, a small gap between two different official area series rather than an error.

Taipei City: Taipei City, the special municipality alone. Area and registered population come from the same Ministry of the Interior table at the same year-end 2025 reference date, so the density is like for like. The figure excludes New Taipei City: “Taipei” in everyday speech often means the two cities together (2,324.3664 km², 6,484,338 residents) or the wider metropolitan area, which has no single official boundary. Population is household registration, not resident presence.

In-depth guide

How should Daegu and Taipei City be understood in context?

Daegu is the rare Korean city with almost exactly Taipei City’s population: about 2.35 million against 2.44 million. What differs is the land. Daegu’s administrative territory is about 5.5 Taipei Cities, most of that gap added by one 2023 merger.

Same crowd, much bigger map

Daegu’s 2,353,032 residents are about 96% of Taipei City’s 2,439,507, but they spread over 1,499.68 km² instead of 271.7997 km². That puts Daegu at about 1,569 people per km² against Taipei City’s 8,975 — Taipei City is about 5.7 times as dense.

The 2023 Gunwi merger

In July 2023 Daegu annexed Gunwi County, a mostly rural area to its north, and its official area rose from about 884 km² to 1,499.68 km². On the old boundary Daegu would be about 3.25 times Taipei City rather than 5.52 times.

Because Gunwi is sparsely settled, the merger added far more land than people. That is why Daegu’s average density looks low next to Taipei City, even though its basin-floor core is a busy city.

Questions people ask

About this geographic comparison

Which is bigger, Daegu or Taipei City?

Daegu is bigger, with a land area about 5.52× that of Taipei City (1,499.7 vs 271.8 km², or 579 sq mi vs 104.9 sq mi).

How do Daegu and Taipei City differ in area, population and density?

Daegu is 5.52× the size of Taipei City — 1,499.7 km² vs 271.8 km² (579 sq mi vs 104.9 sq mi). Population is 96.5% as high; average density is 17.5% as high. Each side’s scope and reference date are set out under “Boundaries and definitions” on this page.

Does Daegu have more people than Taipei City?

No, slightly fewer: 2,353,032 against Taipei City’s 2,439,507, about 96% of Taipei City’s population. The two cities are close in people and far apart in land.

Sources

Outline data: