Topics
Wonsan, 
North Korea
373,596 people lived in Wonsan in 2025. It is the 1525th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 5th largest in North Korea.
The UN measures every city in the world the same way, by where the buildings are rather than where the boundary runs, so this figure and Wonsan's own can differ widely. What counts as a city here.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Wonsan grew
For every 10 people in Wonsan in 1975, there were 13.3 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 365,747 people in 2050.
projected (after 2025) · how sure the UN is: high moderate low
How to read this: each column is one of the UN's five-yearly estimates, 1975 through 2050, and taller means more people. Where a column is hatched the year has not happened yet. The strip under the columns is the UN's own confidence in each figure, palest where it is least sure; where it is blank the city was not on the list at all.
People · your family's years · 1975 to 2050
Wonsan through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Wonsan in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
North Korea · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: North Korea and its 104 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Pyongyang). Wonsan is ringed, in colour; the other cities are grey. Neighbouring countries are outlines.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Wonsan covered 34 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 5.5 km² of it. That is 15 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 4 by 4 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown by 83%, and its people have grown by 33%.
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, 1 lived in Wonsan, which is 373,596 people.
How to read this: 100 squares, one for every 100th person in North Korea; the coloured squares live in Wonsan. The grey rest live in other cities, in towns or in the countryside.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1521 Numazu Japan374,507
- 1522 Hrodna Belarus374,464
- 1523 Debandi India374,423
- 1524 Pakpattan Pakistan374,389
- 1525 Wonsan373,596
- 1526 Valletta Malta373,474
- 1527 Kuantan Malaysia373,353
- 1528 Junagadh India373,265
- 1529 La Paz Mexico372,988
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: names are in order of size, the leading number being each city's rank among all 12,138 in 2025; the bars share a scale within a list. A jump in the ranks means a city under 300,000 people, which is not given a page here.
Apparatus
Sources and method
The figures for Wonsan 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 Wonsan 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