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Country profile

South Korea

At a glance

  • South Korea has a population of about 51.7M; its total GDP of $1.9T ranks #13 of 168 countries with data.
  • Its surface area of 99,054 km² is about 52% of the world median of 190,157 km².
  • CO₂ emissions (total) stands out most against the median: 588 Mt — rank #9 of 165 countries with data.

South Korea: all 46 metrics vs the world median

Metric Value Rank vs median
Population & land
Population 51.7M (2025) #29 / 169 median 11.5M · 4.5×
Population growth -0.1% (2025) #149 / 169 N/A
Urban population share 81.2% (2025) #35 / 169 median 63.8% · 1.3×
Population aged 65+ 20.3% (2025) #27 / 169 median 7.4% · 2.8×
Fertility rate 0.7 (2024) #169 / 169 median 2.1 · 36%
Birth rate 4.7‰ (2024) #169 / 169 median 16.0‰ · 29%
Death rate 7.0‰ (2024) #91 / 169 median 7.1‰ · 98%
Net migration 65.7K (2025) #20 / 169 N/A
Surface area 99,054 km² #109 / 176 median 190,157 km² · 52%
Population density derived 522/km² (2025) #6 / 169 median 73.2/km² · 7.1×
Economy
GDP (total) $1.9T (2025) #13 / 168 median $80.7B · 23×
GDP per capita $36,227 (2025) #28 / 168 median $6,834 · 5.3×
GNI per capita $37,880 (2025) #25 / 168 median $6,350 · 6.0×
GDP growth (annual) 1.0% (2025) #135 / 168 median 3.1% · 33%
Inflation rate 2.1% (2025) #111 / 162 median 3.3% · 64%
Unemployment rate 2.7% (2025) #143 / 168 median 5.1% · 52%
Gini index 32.9 (2021) #103 / 153 median 35.3 · 93%
Poverty rate ($2.15/day) 0.1% (2021) #139 / 153 median 2.5% · 4%
Trade & industry
Exports share of GDP 45.8% (2025) #50 / 163 median 35.0% · 1.3×
Imports share of GDP 40.6% (2025) #80 / 163 median 40.2% · 1.0×
Agriculture share of GDP 1.5% (2025) #145 / 168 median 7.2% · 20%
Manufacturing share of GDP 27.4% (2025) #5 / 165 median 11.2% · 2.5×
International tourist arrivals 2.5M (2020) #53 / 162 median 1.1M · 2.2×
Tourism receipts $11.8B (2020) #16 / 165 median $705M · 17×
Health & education
Life expectancy 83.6 years (2024) #7 / 169 median 73.8 years · 1.1×
Infant mortality 2.3‰ (2024) #154 / 166 median 13.1‰ · 18%
Under-five mortality 2.8‰ (2024) #154 / 166 median 15.8‰ · 18%
DPT immunization 97.0% (2024) #31 / 166 median 90.5% · 1.1×
Hospital beds 12.8 per 1,000 (2022) #2 / 167 median 2.0 per 1,000 · 6.3×
Health spending share of GDP 8.7% (2024) #42 / 165 median 6.5% · 1.3×
Secondary school enrollment 96.3% (2024) #61 / 167 median 90.5% · 1.1×
Education spending share of GDP 5.4% (2022) #35 / 165 median 4.1% · 1.3×
Society & living
Human Development Index 0.937 (2023) #17 / 165 median 0.754 · 1.2×
Internet users 97.9% (2024) #10 / 169 median 81.5% · 1.2×
Mobile subscriptions 172.5 per 100 (2024) #13 / 169 median 116.4 per 100 · 1.5×
Fixed broadband 47.8 per 100 (2024) #2 / 168 median 12.1 per 100 · 4.0×
Electricity access 100.0% (2024) #66 / 169 median 99.9% · 1.0×
Environment & security
CO₂ emissions per capita 11.4 t (2024) #14 / 165 median 2.6 t · 4.3×
CO₂ emissions (total) derived 588 Mt (2024) #9 / 165 median 21.3 Mt · 28×
Renewable electricity share 6.6% (2021) #138 / 169 median 34.1% · 19%
Renewable energy consumption 3.6% (2021) #149 / 169 median 26.9% · 13%
Forest area 64.1% (2023) #16 / 169 median 32.4% · 2.0×
Agricultural land 16.1% (2023) #137 / 169 median 41.7% · 39%
Arable land 14.9% (2023) #63 / 168 median 11.0% · 1.4×
PM2.5 exposure 21.9 µg/m³ (2023) #72 / 168 median 19.8 µg/m³ · 1.1×
Military spending 2.6% (2024) #42 / 157 median 1.8% · 1.4×

Ranks are value-descending and count only the countries that have data for that metric (#1 = highest value); N/A rows occupy no rank.

The median is the unweighted middle value across the countries with data (gold tick) — not a world average. Bars grow with the value: reaching the tick means matching the median, and a full bar means twice the median or more. The median value and this country's multiple are noted under each bar.

South Korea's true-shape outline

South Korea's border outline from Natural Earth 1:110m boundaries — total surface area 99,054 km².

South Korea head-to-head pages

South Korea vs China: side-by-side comparison

South Korea vs Japan: side-by-side comparison

South Korea vs North Korea: side-by-side comparison

Open South Korea in the interactive compare tool →

See South Korea's true size on the drag-and-drop map →

Measure the distance to South Korea →

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Data & method

Indicators: World Bank Open Data, 43 indicators — CC BY 4.0 © World Bank — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/; Human Development Index — CC BY 3.0 IGO © United Nations Development Programme — https://hdr.undp.org/terms-use

Boundaries: Natural Earth 1:110m (public domain); surface areas are computed with an equal-area spherical formula (Chamberlin–Duquette).

Reference facts (capital, languages, currencies, subregion): mledoze/countries (ODbL).