Matchup file

North Korea vs Russia

83 shared metrics.

North KoreaLeads in 22

vs83 shared

RussiaLeads in 61

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Russia leads by 39 metrics. Use the same instinct in a quick real-data brawl.

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Country briefing

What matters for both sides

Short real-world notes so the comparison reads like more than a stat strip.

North Korea

Quick notes before you compare the numbers.

Identity

Formal name: Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

CIA 2026

Curated stat

North Korea has tightly restricted internet access; most people are not using the open web.

CIA

Russia

Quick notes before you compare the numbers.

Identity

Formal name: Russian Federation.

CIA 2026

Curated stat

Russia is the world's largest country and spans 11 time zones.

Britannica

Analysis

Russia leads in 61 of 83 shared metrics, while North Korea leads in 22.

North Korea's Population Density is 24.0x that of Russia (219.4 /km² vs 8.8 /km²).

North Korea's Water Stress (%) is 7.6x that of Russia (12.92% vs 1.5%).

North Korea's Renewable Energy (%) is 3.2x that of Russia (14.7% vs 3.5%).

North Korea's Child Mortality is 3.0x that of Russia (18 per 1k births vs 4.5 per 1k births).

North Korea's Infant Mortality is 2.9x that of Russia (14.5 per 1k births vs 3.7 per 1k births).

Key Comparisons

Population DensityNorth Korea leads

North Korea

219.4 /km²

Russia

8.8 /km²

Water Stress (%)North Korea leads

North Korea

12.92%

Russia

1.5%

Renewable Energy (%)North Korea leads

North Korea

14.7%

Russia

3.5%

Child MortalityNorth Korea leads

North Korea

18 per 1k births

Russia

4.5 per 1k births

Infant MortalityNorth Korea leads

North Korea

14.5 per 1k births

Russia

3.7 per 1k births

Air Pollution (PM2.5)North Korea leads

Russia

North Korea

6.0

Russia

11.4K

100% lower

Air Passengers

Russia

North Korea

3.7K

Russia

98.87M

100% lower

Scientific Publications

Russia

North Korea

263.49

Russia

84.3K

100% lower

Russia

North Korea

0.13 L/person/yr

Russia

3.1 L/person/yr

96% lower

Comparison of North Korea and Russia across 83 metrics
				Winner
Population Density	219.4 /km²	8.8 /km²	2398% higher	North Korea
Water Stress (%)	12.92%	1.5%	760% higher	North Korea
Renewable Energy (%)	14.7%	3.5%	320% higher	North Korea
Child Mortality	18 per 1k births	4.5 per 1k births	300% higher	North Korea
Infant Mortality	14.5 per 1k births	3.7 per 1k births	292% higher	North Korea
Air Pollution (PM2.5)	29.93 µg/m³	11.27 µg/m³	165% higher	North Korea
Solar Electricity Share	0.63%	0.24%	163% higher	North Korea
Food Waste per Person	122.73 kg/person/yr	55.52 kg/person/yr	121% higher	North Korea
Time Zones Count	2.0 time zones	1.0 time zones	100% higher	North Korea
Foreign Patents	6.0	11.4K	100% lower	Russia
Air Passengers	3.7K	98.87M	100% lower	Russia
Scientific Publications	263.49	84.3K	100% lower	Russia
Official Languages Count	2.0	1.0	100% higher	North Korea
Forest Area	59.7K km²	8.15M km²	99% lower	Russia
Land Area	120.4K km²	16.38M km²	99% lower	Russia
Milk Consumption per Person	3.8 kg/person/yr	163.57 kg/person/yr	98% lower	Russia
Electricity Generation	26.55 TWh	1.2K TWh	98% lower	Russia
Total CO2 Emissions	66.24 Mt CO2e	2.0K Mt CO2e	97% lower	Russia
Electric Generating Capacity	8.36M kW	301.93M kW	97% lower	Russia
Beer Consumption	0.13 L/person/yr	3.1 L/person/yr	96% lower	Russia
Teen Birth Rate	0.51 per 1k	12.97 per 1k	96% lower	Russia
Coastline Length	2.5K km	37.7K km	93% lower	Russia
Land Border Length	1.6K km	22.4K km	93% lower	Russia
All-Time Olympic Gold Medals	16 gold medals	192 gold medals	92% lower	Russia
Railway Length	7.4K km	85.5K km	91% lower	Russia
Merchant Fleet Size	264	2.9K	91% lower	Russia
Airports	80	938	91% lower	Russia
UNESCO World Heritage Sites	3.0 sites	34 sites	91% lower	Russia
Energy Use (Per Capita)	640.51 kg oil eq/person	5.6K kg oil eq/person	89% lower	Russia
Electricity Use (Per Capita)	829.77 kWh/person	7.2K kWh/person	88% lower	Russia
All-Time Olympic Medals	63 medals	540 medals	88% lower	Russia
Water Withdrawal	8.7 B m³	64.82 B m³	87% lower	Russia
Mobile Subscriptions (%)	24 per 100 people	186 per 100 people	87% lower	Russia
Coal Electricity Share	34.06%	18.4%	85% higher	North Korea
Meat Consumption per Person	13.67 kg/person/yr	87.81 kg/person/yr	84% lower	Russia
Freedom of Expression Index	0.01	0.08	84% lower	Russia
Population	26.40M	140.13M	81% lower	Russia
CO2 Per Capita	2.4 t/person/yr	12.29 t/person/yr	81% lower	Russia
Protected Land (%)	2.4%	11.5%	79% lower	Russia
Border Neighbors	3.0	14	79% lower	Russia
Capital Elevation	38 m	156 m	76% lower	Russia
Liberal Democracy Index	0.01	0.06	75% lower	Russia
Irrigated Land	14.6K km²	43.0K km²	66% lower	Russia
Domestic Patents	6.9K	19.6K	65% lower	Russia
Agricultural Land (%)	21.55%	13.17%	64% higher	North Korea
Alcohol Consumption	3.9 L/adult/yr	10.53 L/adult/yr	63% lower	Russia
Obesity Rate	10.87%	28.05%	61% lower	Russia
Birth Rate	12.99 per 1k	8.3 per 1k	57% higher	North Korea
Suicide Rate	9.3 per 100k	21.37 per 100k	56% lower	Russia
Insufficient Physical Activity	26.99% of adults	17.66% of adults	53% higher	North Korea
Electoral Democracy Index	0.08	0.17	51% lower	Russia
Highest Elevation	2.7K m	5.6K m	51% lower	Russia
Seafood Consumption per Person	10.96 kg/person/yr	21.76 kg/person/yr	50% lower	Russia
Women's Political Empowerment	0.29	0.55	47% lower	Russia
Smoking Rate	16.5%	29.2%	43% lower	Russia
Electricity Access (%)	57.5%	100%	42% lower	Russia
Tobacco Use Prevalence	15.6% of adults	26.5% of adults	41% lower	Russia
Hypertension Prevalence	26.9% of adults	44.3% of adults	39% lower	Russia
Death Rate	9.0 per 1k	13.93 per 1k	35% lower	Russia
Corruption Perceptions Index	15 pts	22 pts	32% lower	Russia
Doctors (per 1,000)	3.6 per 1k	5.1 per 1k	29% lower	Russia
Elderly Population (%)	12.4%	17.18%	28% lower	Russia
Electricity Carbon Intensity	340.59 gCO2/kWh	449.73 gCO2/kWh	24% lower	Russia
Fertility Rate	1.8 children/woman	1.5 children/woman	18% higher	North Korea
Urban Population (%)	63.86%	75.11%	15% lower	Russia
Political Corruption Index	0.67	0.78	14% lower	Russia
Dependency Ratio	45.66% of working-age pop.	52.57% of working-age pop.	13% lower	Russia
Safe Drinking Water (%)	66.61%	76.26%	13% lower	Russia
Unemployment Rate	2.9%	2.5%	13% higher	North Korea
Spirits Consumption	2.9 L/person/yr	3.2 L/person/yr	10% lower	Russia
Youth Population (%)	18.95%	17.28%	10% higher	North Korea
Median Age	36.0 years	39.5 years	9% lower	Russia
Sanitation Access (%)	84.82%	92.22%	8% lower	Russia
Women in Parliament (%)	17.61%	16.44%	7% higher	North Korea
Youth Unemployment Rate	7.9% of youth labor force	7.6% of youth labor force	4% higher	North Korea
Armed Forces Personnel	1.47M	1.45M	1% higher	North Korea
Life Expectancy	73.6 years	73.3 years	1% higher	North Korea
Wind Electricity Share	0%	0.31%	ranked lower	Russia
Forest Coverage (%)	49.55%	49.78%	equal	Russia
Nobel Laureates Born per Million People	0 per 1M people	0.19 per 1M people	ranked lower	Russia
Lowest Elevation	0 m	-28 m	ranked higher	North Korea
EV Chargers per 100,000 PeopleSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors - Open Database License (ODbL)	0 per 100k people	1.1 per 100k people	ranked lower	Russia
McDonald's Outlets per Million PeopleSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors - Open Database License (ODbL)	0 per 1M people	0.39 per 1M people	ranked lower	Russia

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North Korea Russia

Analysis

Russia leads in 61 of 83 shared metrics, while North Korea leads in 22.

North Korea's Population Density is 24.0x that of Russia (219.4 /km² vs 8.8 /km²).

North Korea's Water Stress (%) is 7.6x that of Russia (12.92% vs 1.5%).

North Korea's Renewable Energy (%) is 3.2x that of Russia (14.7% vs 3.5%).

North Korea's Child Mortality is 3.0x that of Russia (18 per 1k births vs 4.5 per 1k births).

North Korea's Infant Mortality is 2.9x that of Russia (14.5 per 1k births vs 3.7 per 1k births).

Key Comparisons

Population DensityNorth Korea leads

North Korea

219.4 /km²

Russia

8.8 /km²

Water Stress (%)North Korea leads

North Korea

12.92%

Russia

1.5%

Renewable Energy (%)North Korea leads

North Korea

14.7%

Russia

3.5%

Child MortalityNorth Korea leads

North Korea

18 per 1k births

Russia

4.5 per 1k births

Infant MortalityNorth Korea leads

North Korea

14.5 per 1k births

Russia

3.7 per 1k births

Air Pollution (PM2.5)North Korea leads

North Korea

29.93 µg/m³

Russia

11.27 µg/m³

Population Density

219.4 /km²

8.8 /km²

Water Stress (%)

12.92%

1.5%

Renewable Energy (%)

14.7%

3.5%

Child Mortality

18 per 1k births

4.5 per 1k births

Infant Mortality

14.5 per 1k births

3.7 per 1k births

Air Pollution (PM2.5)

29.93 µg/m³

11.27 µg/m³

Solar Electricity Share

0.63%

0.24%

Food Waste per Person

122.73 kg/person/yr

55.52 kg/person/yr

Time Zones Count

2.0 time zones

1.0 time zones

Foreign Patents

6.0

11.4K

Air Passengers

3.7K

98.87M

Scientific Publications

263.49

84.3K

Official Languages Count

2.0

1.0

Forest Area

59.7K km²

8.15M km²

Land Area

120.4K km²

16.38M km²

Milk Consumption per Person

3.8 kg/person/yr

163.57 kg/person/yr

Electricity Generation

26.55 TWh

1.2K TWh

Total CO2 Emissions

66.24 Mt CO2e

2.0K Mt CO2e

Electric Generating Capacity

8.36M kW

301.93M kW

Beer Consumption

0.13 L/person/yr

3.1 L/person/yr

North Korea vs Russia

Think you can spot the next winner?

What matters for both sides

North Korea

Russia

Analysis

Key Comparisons

All Metrics

Population Density

Water Stress (%)

Renewable Energy (%)

Child Mortality

Infant Mortality

Air Pollution (PM2.5)

Solar Electricity Share

Food Waste per Person

Time Zones Count

Foreign Patents

Air Passengers

Scientific Publications

Official Languages Count

Forest Area

Land Area

Milk Consumption per Person

Electricity Generation

Total CO2 Emissions

Electric Generating Capacity

Beer Consumption

Teen Birth Rate

Coastline Length

Land Border Length

All-Time Olympic Gold Medals

Railway Length

Merchant Fleet Size

Airports

UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Energy Use (Per Capita)

Electricity Use (Per Capita)

All-Time Olympic Medals

Water Withdrawal

Mobile Subscriptions (%)

Coal Electricity Share

Meat Consumption per Person

Freedom of Expression Index

Population

CO2 Per Capita

Protected Land (%)

Border Neighbors

Capital Elevation

Liberal Democracy Index

Irrigated Land

Domestic Patents

Agricultural Land (%)

Alcohol Consumption

Obesity Rate

Birth Rate

Suicide Rate

Insufficient Physical Activity

Electoral Democracy Index

Highest Elevation

Seafood Consumption per Person

Women's Political Empowerment

Smoking Rate

Electricity Access (%)

Tobacco Use Prevalence

Hypertension Prevalence

Death Rate

Corruption Perceptions Index

Doctors (per 1,000)

Elderly Population (%)

Electricity Carbon Intensity

Fertility Rate

Urban Population (%)

Political Corruption Index

Dependency Ratio

Safe Drinking Water (%)

Unemployment Rate

Spirits Consumption

Youth Population (%)

Median Age