North Korea
Democratic People's Republic of Korea
- Capital
- Pyongyang
- Region
- Eastern Asia
- Population, 2025
- 27 million
- Currency
- KPW
- Area
- 120,538 km²
The average net salary is $251.
Livability
The same seven domains as for cities, scored at country level; safety falls back to the homicide rate where Numbeo has no survey.
—not enough data
- Purchasing power25%No data
- Safety20%61
- Health care15%No data
- Climate10%No data
- Air quality10%66
- Connectivity10%No data
- Cost10%No data
How each domain is scored
- Purchasing power, 25%
- What a local net salary buys against local prices, as a percentile.
- Safety, 20%
- Numbeo safety index for the city, or for its country when the city has no survey.
- Health care, 15%
- Numbeo health care index, city first, then country.
- Climate, 10%
- Numbeo climate index where surveyed, otherwise a comfort score from NASA climate normals.
- Air quality, 10%
- 30-day mean US AQI on a 0-100 scale: 100 at AQI 25 or cleaner, 0 at 150 or worse.
- Connectivity, 10%
- Percentile of median fixed broadband download speed, city first, then country.
- Cost, 10%
- Cheaper places score higher: the percentile of the cost-of-living plus rent index, inverted.
What it costs
Averages over the country’s cities, weighted by population. New York = 100.
Cost of living index
—
New York = 100, rent excluded
Rent index
1.9
New York = 100
Purchasing power
—
New York = 100
One person
—
A month, rent included
Net salary
$251
Average, a month after tax
Rent, one bedroom in the centre
$92.00
A month
Economy
World Bank development indicators; each figure is the latest year with data.
GDP per person
—
US dollars
Growth
—
Real GDP, a year
Unemployment
3.5%
2025
Inflation
—
Life expectancy
73.7 years
2024
Internet users
0%
2004
Taxes
Headline rates side by side from three references, with the source of each.
- Top income tax rate
- 20%
- SourceWikipedia
- Lowest income tax rate
- 0%
- SourceWikipedia
- Corporate tax
- 25%
- SourceWikipedia
- VAT or sales tax
- 15%
- SourceTrading Economics
Headline statutory rates as of Sep 2026; brackets, allowances and regional taxes change what a given person pays.
Safety and internet
Numbeo’s crime survey, the World Bank homicide series and the Speedtest Global Index.
Safety
- Safety indexNumbeo, higher is safer
- 61.4
- Crime indexNumbeo, lower is better
- 38.6
- HomicidesPer 100,000 people
- —
Internet
- Fixed downloadMbps, median
- —
- Mobile downloadMbps, median
- —
- Change in a yearFixed download speed
- —
Cities in North Korea
Sort by any column. Livability and cost use the same scales as every city page.
| 1Changam-ch’on | 69 | — | — | — | — | 207.3K | Low confidence |
| 2Sinp’o | 68 | — | — | — | — | 152.8K | Low confidence |
| 3Chongjin | 68 | — | — | — | — | 327K | Low confidence |
| 4Haeju | 67 | — | — | — | — | 222.4K | Low confidence |
| 5Ŭllyul | 67 | — | — | — | — | 108K | Low confidence |
| 6Kangnyŏng | 67 | — | — | — | — | 106.8K | Low confidence |
| 7Paech’ŏn-Ĺp | 67 | — | — | — | — | 159.8K | Low confidence |
| 8Chaeryŏng-ni | 67 | — | — | — | — | 125.6K | Low confidence |
| 9Kaesŏng | 66 | — | — | — | — | 338.2K | Low confidence |
| 10Ch’ŏngdan-Ĺp | 66 | — | — | — | — | 142.6K | Low confidence |
| 11Wŏnsan | 66 | — | — | — | — | 329.2K | Low confidence |
| 12HamhĹng | 66 | — | — | — | — | 559.1K | Low confidence |
| 13HĹngnam | 66 | — | — | — | — | 346.1K | Low confidence |
| 14Sariwŏn-si | 65 | — | — | — | — | 310.1K | Low confidence |
| 15Namp’o | 65 | — | — | — | — | 455K | Low confidence |
| 16Sinch’ŏn-Ĺp | 65 | — | — | — | — | 141.4K | Low confidence |
| 17Songnim-ni | 65 | — | — | — | — | 152.4K | Low confidence |
| 18Kangsŏn | 65 | — | — | — | — | 102.4K | Low confidence |
| 19Man’gyŏngdae-ri | 65 | — | — | — | — | 321.7K | Low confidence |
| 20P’yŏngsŏng | 63 | — | — | — | — | 100K | Low confidence |
| 21Paek'ak | 63 | — | — | — | — | 125.9K | Low confidence |
| 22Sunch’ŏn | 62 | — | — | — | — | 437K | Low confidence |
| 23Kaech’ŏn | 62 | — | — | — | — | 319.6K | Low confidence |
| 24Manp’o | 61 | — | — | — | — | 116.8K | Low confidence |
| 25Tŏkch’ŏn | 61 | — | — | — | — | 237.1K | Low confidence |
| 26Pyongyang | 60 | — | $91.84 | $251 | — | 3.2M | Low confidence, 4 contributors |
| 27Hyesan | 60 | — | — | — | — | 192.7K | Low confidence |
| 28SinĹiju | 59 | — | — | — | — | 288.1K | Low confidence |
| 29Kanggye | 57 | — | — | — | — | 209.5K | Low confidence |