World geography › Eastern Asia › North Korea
North Korea: map and facts
North Korea is in Eastern Asia. It has about 26.6 million people (2025), the 56th largest population. It covers 120,540 km², the 98th largest by area. That is about 220 people per km². Its highest point is Paektu-san, at 2,744 m. The longest river on its map is the Yalu, 813 km from source to mouth.
Facts
- Population: 26,571,036 (2025, World Bank)
- Area: 120,540 km² (2024, World Bank)
- Capital: Pyongyang
- Highest point: Paektu-san, 2,744 m (Wikidata)
- Forest: 64.1% of the land (2024, World Bank)
Rivers
The longest rivers on the map of North Korea, with the length of each whole river (Wikidata):
- Yalu: 813 km
- Tumen: 549 km
Mountains and landscapes
Its highest peaks:
- Paektu-san: 2,744 m (its highest point)
Mountain ranges: Hamgyong Mountains.
Plateaus, plains, deserts and other regions: Korean Peninsula.
Land
Land cover seen from satellites (NASA MODIS, 2024): deciduous broadleaf forest 43.7%, farmland 24.7%, wooded savanna 10.6%, mixed forest 9%, grassland 5.9%, savanna 2.6%.
Landforms, worked out from the height of the land (USGS GMTED2010): mountains 64.5%, hills 30.1%, plains 5.4%.
Forests covered 64.1% of its land in 2024, up from 61.9% in 1990 (World Bank).
Minerals and fuels
- World #4 in tungsten among the countries USGS lists (2025)
- World #8 in graphite among the countries USGS lists (2025)
Neighbours
North Korea shares land borders with China, Russia and South Korea on this map.
Explore the map of North Korea
In the game you can zoom into its rivers, mountains, minerals, terrain and forests. Free, with no sign-up.
Sources
India’s boundaries are drawn according to India’s official position, simplified for small-scale maps (data: Natural Earth, India view). Each figure shows its year and source; some are rounded. Data release 2026.2.
- Natural Earth (naturalearthdata.com), public domain. Boundaries follow India's official position (Natural Earth's India point of view). Terms
- GMTED2010 courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey (Danielson and Gesch 2011, USGS Open-File Report 2011-1073). Terms
- Friedl, M., Sulla-Menashe, D. (2022). MODIS/Terra+Aqua Land Cover Type Yearly L3 Global 500m SIN Grid V061. NASA EOSDIS Land Processes DAAC. doi:10.5067/MODIS/MCD12Q1.061. Terms
- The World Bank: World Development Indicators, Population, total (SP.POP.TOTL): UN Population Division, national statistical offices (2025 data, retrieved 2026-10-17). CC BY 4.0. Rounded by Make Me Smarter. Terms
- The World Bank: World Development Indicators, Surface area (AG.SRF.TOTL.K2): FAO (2024 data, retrieved 2026-10-17). CC BY 4.0. Terms
- The World Bank: World Development Indicators, Forest area (% of land area) (AG.LND.FRST.ZS): FAO, FAOSTAT (2024 data, retrieved 2026-10-17). CC BY 4.0. Rounded by Make Me Smarter. Terms
- Wikidata (CC0): names, capitals, peak heights and river lengths, checked by Make Me Smarter. Terms
- Credit: U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 data release (doi:10.5066/P1WKQ63T). Terms
- Landforms worked out by Make Me Smarter from GMTED2010.
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