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South Korea: Population
All residents regardless of legal status or citizenship, mid-year estimate.
Data status: CurrentThe latest figures we have collected are for 2025. 2026 is not overdue until March 27, 2028, a generous allowance for a annual series until we have timed this source’s releases.
Official statisticSource figures as of October 8, 2026Sources & methods
- Sources
- World Bank
- Period covered
- 1960 – 2025
- Source figures as of
- October 8, 2026
- Geography
- South Korea
- Sector
- Whole economy (not a single sector)
- Seasonal adjustment
- Not applicable
- Transformations
- Views other than the level (changes, averages, volatility) are calculated by CK Economics from these figures
- Revisions
- Replaced with the source’s latest figures whenever it revises them.
- Data status
- Current
Key figures
CK estimatePeople · calculated by CK Economics from World Bank data
- Latest · 2025
- 51,684,564
- −0.1% vs a year earlier1
- 5-year change
- −0.3%
- since 2020, −0.1% a year2
- 10-year change
- +1.3%
- since 2015, +0.1% a year2
- Record high
- 51,836,239
- 20203
- Record low
- 25,012,374
- 19603
- Where the latest ranks
- 92nd pct.
- Higher than 92% of the other 65 observations since 19604
- 1Latest observation against the observation one year earlier (for weekly data, the nearest within three days).
- 2Latest observation against the observation five and ten years earlier; the yearly rate is the compound annual growth rate over the span.
- 3Highest and lowest published observations across the full history shown.
- 4Share of the other published observations that are lower than the latest one, rounded down.
Methodology
All residents regardless of legal status or citizenship, mid-year estimate. Compiled by the World Bank from national statistical offices and international agencies; some series (labour force participation) are ILO modelled estimates. Source series SP.POP.TOTL. Licence: CC BY 4.0.
Source
World Bank, World Development Indicators (WDI 2026-10-08). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=KOR
All data
| Period | Value | Change y/y |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 51,684,564 | −0.1% |
| 2024 | 51,751,065 | +0.1% |
| 2023 | 51,712,619 | +0.1% |
| 2022 | 51,672,569 | −0.2% |
| 2021 | 51,769,539 | −0.1% |
| 2020 | 51,836,239 | +0.1% |
| 2019 | 51,764,822 | +0.3% |
| 2018 | 51,585,058 | +0.4% |
| 2017 | 51,361,911 | +0.3% |
| 2016 | 51,217,803 | +0.4% |
| 2015 | 51,014,947 | +0.5% |
| 2014 | 50,746,659 | +0.6% |
| 2013 | 50,428,893 | +0.5% |
| 2012 | 50,199,853 | +0.5% |
| 2011 | 49,936,638 | +0.8% |
| 2010 | 49,554,112 | +0.5% |
| 2009 | 49,307,835 | +0.5% |
| 2008 | 49,054,708 | +0.8% |
| 2007 | 48,683,638 | +0.5% |
| 2006 | 48,438,292 | +0.5% |
| 2005 | 48,184,561 | +0.2% |
| 2004 | 48,082,519 | +0.4% |
| 2003 | 47,892,330 | +0.5% |
| 2002 | 47,644,736 | +0.6% |