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Chŏngjin, 
North Korea
690,409 people lived in Chŏngjin in 2025. It is the 779th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 2nd largest in North Korea.
Like every city on this site, Chŏngjin is counted as a built-up area seen from above rather than as a city government's territory. Why that changes the number.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Chŏngjin grew
Where Chŏngjin had 10 people in 1975, it had 16.1 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 684,118 people in 2050.
projected (after 2025) · how sure the UN is: high moderate low
How to read this: one column every five years, 1975 to 2050; its height is the number of people. Hatched columns are the UN's projection. The thin strip beneath says how sure the UN is of each figure: the stronger the colour, the surer. A blank means the place was not on the UN's list of cities that year.
People · your family's years · 1975 to 2050
Chŏngjin through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Chŏngjin in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
North Korea · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Chŏngjin is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of North Korea in 2025, 104 in all, led by Pyongyang, each drawn with an area that matches its people. Countries next door are outlines only.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Chŏngjin covered 68 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 16 km² of it. That is 23 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 5 by 5 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 2 times its size, and its people have grown by 61%.
How to read this: pale is the whole of the city's land; the stronger square inside it is what is actually built on. The three are drawn to the same scale, so a larger square really is more land, and hatching means the year is the UN's projection rather than a count.
Of every 100 people in North Korea
Its share of North Korea
Of every 100 people in North Korea in 2025, 3 lived in Chŏngjin, which is 690,409 people.
How to read this: 100 squares stand for everyone in North Korea, one square for every 100th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Chŏngjin's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 775 Kebkabiya Sudan694,415
- 776 Dazhou China693,707
- 777 Rahim Yar Khan Pakistan693,373
- 778 Panvel India692,036
- 779 Chŏngjin690,409
- 780 Cheongju-si South Korea690,333
- 781 Cuito Angola689,795
- 782 Sorocaba Brazil689,775
- 783 Zurich Switzerland689,657
In North Korea, 2025
- 172 Pyongyang2,901,588
- 779 Chŏngjin690,409
- 1367 Hamhung412,277
- 1398 Sariwon404,672
- 1525 Wonsan373,596
- 1576 Jakdo-dong363,071
- 1679 Pyŏngsŏng340,370
- 1854 Kanggye310,432
- 3547 Nampo170,683
How to read this: the number before each name is its place among all 12,138 cities in the world in 2025; bars are people, on one scale per list. Only cities that reach 300,000 people have a page here, so a gap in the numbers is a smaller city.
Apparatus
Sources and method
The figures for Chŏngjin are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1975 to 2025, then projection to 2050. Projected years are drawn hatched, and the UN publishes no range of uncertainty for a city. What a city means here, how the UN measures one, and why that number can differ from the one Chŏngjin publishes about itself: how the figures here are put together.
Sources: UN WUP 2025 · Natural Earth · flag-icons. Every source, its licence and how to cite it →
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries