Place comparison

North Korea compared with Japan: area, population and density

Japan has about 3.1 times North Korea’s area and about 4.7 times its population, so Japan is about 1.5 times as dense.

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: North Korea and Japan. Change the selector above and the page follows, so the reading always matches the tool.

Direct answer

How different are North Korea and Japan?

North Korea covers 120,538 km² (46,540 sq mi); North Korea's area is about 31.9% of Japan's. Its reported population is 26,571,000; North Korea's population is about 21.5% of Japan's. By average density, North Korea's population density is about 67.3% of Japan's.

Area difference

North Korea's area is about 31.9% of Japan's 120,538 km² (46,540 sq mi) · 377,975.6 km² (145,937 sq mi)

Population difference

North Korea's population is about 21.5% of Japan's 26,571,000 · 123,802,000

Density difference

North Korea's population density is about 67.3% of Japan's 220.4 /km² (571 /sq mi) · 327.5 /km² (848 /sq mi)

Full data and sources for each place: North Korea area & population, Japan area & population

Straight-line distance between geometric centres: about 1129 km; time difference: none.

On a familiar scale

North Korea ≈ 87% of Florida 4,536 m² of land per resident
Japan ≈ 94% of California 3,053 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

North Korea is about half the size of Honshu, Japan’s largest island.

Geography and shape

North Korea occupies the northern part of the Korean Peninsula, bordering China and Russia, with mountains across most of its north and east. Japan is an archipelago of four main islands — Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku — and thousands of smaller ones, stretching far further from north to south than the peninsula.

Population context

Japan’s 123,802,000 people (October 2024 estimate) are about 4.7 times North Korea’s UN-estimated 26,571,000 (2025). Japan averages about 328 people per km², North Korea about 220.

Boundaries and definitions

North Korea’s area is the United Nations surface-area figure and its population a UN estimate, because it has not published a census since 2008. Japan’s area is the Geospatial Information Authority’s national territory figure, which includes the Northern Territories, and its population is the Statistics Bureau’s estimate. Treat the ratios as good approximations, not like-for-like measurements.

North Korea: United Nations surface area and 2025 medium-variant population estimate for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Japan: Total population estimate and national territory area.

In-depth guide

How should North Korea and Japan be understood in context?

Asked in Japan, the question is usually “how many Japans is North Korea?” — and the answer is about a third. North Korea’s 120,538 km² is roughly half of Honshu, or one and a half Hokkaidos. Its population is smaller still: under a quarter of Japan’s.

Measured with Japan’s own islands

Honshu covers 227,943 km², so North Korea is about 53% of it. Against Hokkaido (78,419 km² without the Northern Territories) it is about 1.54 times; against Kyushu (36,781 km²) about 3.3 times; against Shikoku (18,296 km²) about 6.6 times.

Put North and South Korea together and the peninsula’s 220,998 km² comes to about 97% of Honshu — the Korean Peninsula and Japan’s main island are nearly the same size.

Fewer people, more thinly spread

Japan’s 123.8 million residents are about 4.7 times North Korea’s estimated 26.6 million. Because the population gap is wider than the land gap, Japan ends up about 1.5 times as dense: about 328 people per km² against 220.

North Korea has not published a census since 2008, so its population is a United Nations estimate and its area the UN surface-area figure. The direction of each comparison is solid; the decimals are approximate.

Questions people ask

About this geographic comparison

Which is bigger, North Korea or Japan?

Japan is bigger, with a land area about 3.14× that of North Korea (North Korea 120,538 vs Japan 377,975.6 km², or 46,540 sq mi vs 145,937 sq mi).

How big is North Korea compared to Japan?

Japan has 377,975.6 km² (145,937 sq mi) and North Korea has 120,538 km² (46,540 sq mi): the ratio is 3.14×. Conversely, North Korea has 31.9% of Japan's area.

Does North Korea or Japan have more people?

Japan has 123,802,000 people (2024-10-01), versus 26,571,000 in North Korea (2025-07-01): 4.66×. In reverse, North Korea has 21.5% of Japan's population. North Korea is 31.9% the size of Japan — 120,538 km² vs 377,975.6 km² (46,540 sq mi vs 145,937 sq mi). Population is 21.5% as high; average density is 67.3% as high. Each side’s scope and reference date are set out under “Boundaries and definitions” on this page.

Is North Korea bigger than Japan?

No. Japan is bigger, with a land area about 3.14× that of North Korea (North Korea 120,538 vs Japan 377,975.6 km², or 46,540 sq mi vs 145,937 sq mi). The area difference is 257,437.6 km². Japan has 377,975.6 km² (145,937 sq mi) and North Korea has 120,538 km² (46,540 sq mi): the ratio is 3.14×. Conversely, North Korea has 31.9% of Japan's area.

How many times bigger than North Korea is Japan?

About 3.1 times by area: 377,976 km² against 120,538 km². By population the gap is wider, about 4.7 times.

Which part of Japan is about the size of North Korea?

About half of Honshu (227,943 km²), or about 1.5 times Hokkaido (78,419 km², excluding the Northern Territories).

Sources

Outline data:

Natural Earth · Public domain