Matchup file

North Korea vs South Korea

83 shared metrics.

North KoreaLeads in 28

vs83 shared

South KoreaLeads in 55

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South Korea leads by 27 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

South Korea

Quick notes before you compare the numbers.

Identity

Formal name: Republic of Korea.

CIA 2026

Curated stat

South Korea transformed from an aid recipient into a high-income World Bank partner within decades.

World Bank

Analysis

South Korea leads in 55 of 83 shared metrics, while North Korea leads in 28.

North Korea's Spirits Consumption is 15.4x that of South Korea (2.9 L/person/yr vs 0.17 L/person/yr).

North Korea's Land Border Length is 5.8x that of South Korea (1.6K km vs 237 km).

North Korea's Child Mortality is 5.4x that of South Korea (18 per 1k births vs 2.8 per 1k births).

North Korea's Infant Mortality is 5.3x that of South Korea (14.5 per 1k births vs 2.3 per 1k births).

North Korea's Political Corruption Index is 3.3x that of South Korea (0.67 vs 0.16).

Key Comparisons

Spirits ConsumptionNorth Korea leads

North Korea

2.9 L/person/yr

South Korea

0.17 L/person/yr

Land Border LengthNorth Korea leads

North Korea

1.6K km

South Korea

237 km

Child MortalityNorth Korea leads

North Korea

18 per 1k births

South Korea

2.8 per 1k births

Infant MortalityNorth Korea leads

North Korea

14.5 per 1k births

South Korea

2.3 per 1k births

Political Corruption IndexNorth Korea leads

North Korea

0.67

South Korea

0.16

Renewable Energy (%)North Korea leads

South Korea

North Korea

0.13 L/person/yr

South Korea

1.5 L/person/yr

91% lower

Comparison of North Korea and South Korea across 83 metrics
				Winner
Spirits Consumption	2.9 L/person/yr	0.17 L/person/yr	1538% higher	North Korea
Land Border Length	1.6K km	237 km	578% higher	North Korea
Child Mortality	18 per 1k births	2.8 per 1k births	543% higher	North Korea
Infant Mortality	14.5 per 1k births	2.3 per 1k births	530% higher	North Korea
Political Corruption Index	0.67	0.16	329% higher	North Korea
Renewable Energy (%)	14.7%	3.6%	308% higher	North Korea
Birth Rate	12.99 per 1k	4.3 per 1k	203% higher	North Korea
Border Neighbors	3.0	1.0	200% higher	North Korea
Fertility Rate	1.8 children/woman	0.68 children/woman	165% higher	North Korea
Armed Forces Personnel	1.47M	569.0K	158% higher	North Korea
Foreign Patents	6.0	51.8K	100% lower	South Korea
Air Passengers	3.7K	76.27M	100% lower	South Korea
Scientific Publications	263.49	76.9K	100% lower	South Korea
Freedom of Expression Index	0.01	0.93	99% lower	South Korea
Liberal Democracy Index	0.01	0.74	98% lower	South Korea
Domestic Patents	6.9K	186.2K	96% lower	South Korea
Electricity Generation	26.55 TWh	622.03 TWh	96% lower	South Korea
Electric Generating Capacity	8.36M kW	151.14M kW	94% lower	South Korea
Electricity Use (Per Capita)	829.77 kWh/person	11.4K kWh/person	93% lower	South Korea
Beer Consumption	0.13 L/person/yr	1.5 L/person/yr	91% lower	South Korea
Solar Electricity Share	0.63%	6.0%	90% lower	South Korea
Electoral Democracy Index	0.08	0.82	90% lower	South Korea
Total CO2 Emissions	66.24 Mt CO2e	588.01 Mt CO2e	89% lower	South Korea
All-Time Olympic Gold Medals	16 gold medals	145 gold medals	89% lower	South Korea
Merchant Fleet Size	264	2.1K	88% lower	South Korea
Energy Use (Per Capita)	640.51 kg oil eq/person	5.3K kg oil eq/person	88% lower	South Korea
Irrigated Land	14.6K km²	7.8K km²	88% higher	North Korea
Milk Consumption per Person	3.8 kg/person/yr	29.05 kg/person/yr	87% lower	South Korea
Railway Length	7.4K km	4.0K km	87% higher	North Korea
Protected Land (%)	2.4%	17.4%	86% lower	South Korea
Mobile Subscriptions (%)	24 per 100 people	173 per 100 people	86% lower	South Korea
All-Time Olympic Medals	63 medals	409 medals	85% lower	South Korea
UNESCO World Heritage Sites	3.0 sites	17 sites	82% lower	South Korea
Meat Consumption per Person	13.67 kg/person/yr	70.71 kg/person/yr	81% lower	South Korea
Seafood Consumption per Person	10.96 kg/person/yr	54.66 kg/person/yr	80% lower	South Korea
CO2 Per Capita	2.4 t/person/yr	11.29 t/person/yr	79% lower	South Korea
Youth Population (%)	18.95%	10.57%	79% higher	North Korea
Corruption Perceptions Index	15 pts	63 pts	76% lower	South Korea
Water Stress (%)	12.92%	45.02%	71% lower	South Korea
Water Withdrawal	8.7 B m³	29.2 B m³	70% lower	South Korea
Women's Political Empowerment	0.29	0.88	67% lower	South Korea
Suicide Rate	9.3 per 100k	27.53 per 100k	66% lower	South Korea
Obesity Rate	10.87%	6.7%	61% higher	North Korea
Population Density	219.4 /km²	529.84 /km²	59% lower	South Korea
Insufficient Physical Activity	26.99% of adults	56.48% of adults	52% lower	South Korea
Alcohol Consumption	3.9 L/adult/yr	7.8 L/adult/yr	50% lower	South Korea
Population	26.40M	51.49M	49% lower	South Korea
Electricity Access (%)	57.5%	100%	42% lower	South Korea
Highest Elevation	2.7K m	1.9K m	41% higher	North Korea
Doctors (per 1,000)	3.6 per 1k	2.6 per 1k	39% higher	North Korea
Elderly Population (%)	12.4%	19.27%	36% lower	South Korea
Agricultural Land (%)	21.55%	16.07%	34% higher	North Korea
Time Zones Count	2.0 time zones	3.0 time zones	33% lower	South Korea
Safe Drinking Water (%)	66.61%	99.28%	33% lower	South Korea
Death Rate	9.0 per 1k	6.9 per 1k	30% higher	North Korea
Forest Coverage (%)	49.55%	64.11%	23% lower	South Korea
Land Area	120.4K km²	97.6K km²	23% higher	North Korea
Urban Population (%)	63.86%	81.17%	21% lower	South Korea
Median Age	36.0 years	44.5 years	19% lower	South Korea
Tobacco Use Prevalence	15.6% of adults	19% of adults	18% lower	South Korea
Youth Unemployment Rate	7.9% of youth labor force	6.7% of youth labor force	18% higher	North Korea
Electricity Carbon Intensity	340.59 gCO2/kWh	417.06 gCO2/kWh	18% lower	South Korea
Smoking Rate	16.5%	20%	17% lower	South Korea
Sanitation Access (%)	84.82%	99.73%	15% lower	South Korea
Air Pollution (PM2.5)	29.93 µg/m³	25.94 µg/m³	15% higher	North Korea
Airports	80	92	13% lower	South Korea
Women in Parliament (%)	17.61%	20%	12% lower	South Korea
Life Expectancy	73.6 years	83.4 years	12% lower	South Korea
Unemployment Rate	2.9%	2.6%	10% higher	North Korea
Coal Electricity Share	34.06%	31.14%	9% higher	North Korea
Food Waste per Person	122.73 kg/person/yr	133.42 kg/person/yr	8% lower	South Korea
Dependency Ratio	45.66% of working-age pop.	42.53% of working-age pop.	7% higher	North Korea
Teen Birth Rate	0.51 per 1k	0.54 per 1k	5% lower	South Korea
Forest Area	59.7K km²	62.6K km²	5% lower	South Korea
Coastline Length	2.5K km	2.4K km	3% higher	North Korea
Hypertension Prevalence	26.9% of adults	27.7% of adults	3% lower	South Korea
Wind Electricity Share	0%	0.58%	ranked lower	South Korea
Capital Elevation	38 m	38 m	equal	North Korea
Nobel Laureates Born per Million People	0 per 1M people	0.06 per 1M people	ranked lower	South Korea
Lowest Elevation	0 m	0 m	ranked higher	North Korea
Official Languages Count	2.0	2.0	equal	North Korea
EV Chargers per 100,000 PeopleSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors - Open Database License (ODbL)	0 per 100k people	2.2 per 100k people	ranked lower	South Korea
McDonald's Outlets per Million PeopleSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors - Open Database License (ODbL)	0 per 1M people	5.4 per 1M people	ranked lower	South Korea

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North Korea South Korea

Analysis

South Korea leads in 55 of 83 shared metrics, while North Korea leads in 28.

North Korea's Spirits Consumption is 15.4x that of South Korea (2.9 L/person/yr vs 0.17 L/person/yr).

North Korea's Land Border Length is 5.8x that of South Korea (1.6K km vs 237 km).

North Korea's Child Mortality is 5.4x that of South Korea (18 per 1k births vs 2.8 per 1k births).

North Korea's Infant Mortality is 5.3x that of South Korea (14.5 per 1k births vs 2.3 per 1k births).

North Korea's Political Corruption Index is 3.3x that of South Korea (0.67 vs 0.16).

Key Comparisons

Spirits ConsumptionNorth Korea leads

North Korea

2.9 L/person/yr

South Korea

0.17 L/person/yr

Land Border LengthNorth Korea leads

North Korea

1.6K km

South Korea

237 km

Child MortalityNorth Korea leads

North Korea

18 per 1k births

South Korea

2.8 per 1k births

Infant MortalityNorth Korea leads

North Korea

14.5 per 1k births

South Korea

2.3 per 1k births

Political Corruption IndexNorth Korea leads

North Korea

0.67

South Korea

0.16

Renewable Energy (%)North Korea leads

North Korea

14.7%

South Korea

3.6%

Spirits Consumption

2.9 L/person/yr

0.17 L/person/yr

Land Border Length

1.6K km

237 km

Child Mortality

18 per 1k births

2.8 per 1k births

Infant Mortality

14.5 per 1k births

2.3 per 1k births

Political Corruption Index

0.67

0.16

Renewable Energy (%)

14.7%

3.6%

Birth Rate

12.99 per 1k

4.3 per 1k

Border Neighbors

3.0

1.0

Fertility Rate

1.8 children/woman

0.68 children/woman

Armed Forces Personnel

1.47M

569.0K

Foreign Patents

6.0

51.8K

Air Passengers

3.7K

76.27M

Scientific Publications

263.49

76.9K

Freedom of Expression Index

0.01

0.93

Liberal Democracy Index

0.01

0.74

Domestic Patents

6.9K

186.2K

Electricity Generation

26.55 TWh

622.03 TWh

Electric Generating Capacity

8.36M kW

151.14M kW

Electricity Use (Per Capita)

829.77 kWh/person

11.4K kWh/person

Beer Consumption

0.13 L/person/yr

1.5 L/person/yr

North Korea vs South Korea

Think you can spot the next winner?

What matters for both sides

North Korea

South Korea

Analysis

Key Comparisons

All Metrics

Spirits Consumption

Land Border Length

Child Mortality

Infant Mortality

Political Corruption Index

Renewable Energy (%)

Birth Rate

Border Neighbors

Fertility Rate

Armed Forces Personnel

Foreign Patents

Air Passengers

Scientific Publications

Freedom of Expression Index

Liberal Democracy Index

Domestic Patents

Electricity Generation

Electric Generating Capacity

Electricity Use (Per Capita)

Beer Consumption

Solar Electricity Share

Electoral Democracy Index

Total CO2 Emissions

All-Time Olympic Gold Medals

Merchant Fleet Size

Energy Use (Per Capita)

Irrigated Land

Milk Consumption per Person

Railway Length

Protected Land (%)

Mobile Subscriptions (%)

All-Time Olympic Medals

UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Meat Consumption per Person

Seafood Consumption per Person

CO2 Per Capita

Youth Population (%)

Corruption Perceptions Index

Water Stress (%)

Water Withdrawal

Women's Political Empowerment

Suicide Rate

Obesity Rate

Population Density

Insufficient Physical Activity

Alcohol Consumption

Population

Electricity Access (%)

Highest Elevation

Doctors (per 1,000)

Elderly Population (%)

Agricultural Land (%)

Time Zones Count

Safe Drinking Water (%)

Death Rate

Forest Coverage (%)

Land Area

Urban Population (%)

Median Age

Tobacco Use Prevalence

Youth Unemployment Rate

Electricity Carbon Intensity

Smoking Rate

Sanitation Access (%)

Air Pollution (PM2.5)

Airports

Women in Parliament (%)

Life Expectancy

Unemployment Rate

Coal Electricity Share

Food Waste per Person

Dependency Ratio