Head-to-Head

North Korea vs South Korea

Side-by-side military and economic comparison. Blue is North Korea, red is South Korea. Every figure links back to its full world ranking.
🇰🇵 North Korea
1 COUNTRIES SUMMED
VS
🇰🇷 South Korea
MIL. STRENGTH #5
26M 52M
👥 Population
n/a $1.9T
📈 GDP (Nominal)
n/a $48B
💰 Defense Budget
1.3M 555k
🪖 Active Personnel
🪖 North Korea's active force is 2.3× larger
✈️ South Korea's air fleet is 1.7× larger
👥 South Korea's population is 2.0× larger
MANPOWERLANDAIRNAVALECONOMYBUDGET
North KoreaSouth Korea
Fleet Modernity — Quality, Not Just Count
AGING
✈️ Air Fleet
MODERN
AGING
🛡️ Armor Fleet
MODERN
UNKNOWN
⚓ Naval Fleet
MODERN
BASIC
🛰️ Drones / UAV
MODERATE
Tiers weight fleet generation and era, not raw counts — a smaller modern fleet often outmatches a larger obsolete one on paper.
Leads More Categories
Even Match
North Korea wins 3 of 6 · South Korea wins 3 of 6
Manpower
★ South Korea
Financials
★ South Korea
Airpower
★ South Korea
Land Power
★ North Korea
Naval Power
★ North Korea
Strategic
★ North Korea
Manpower
26,000,000
👥 Total Population
52,000,000 ★
★ 1,280,000
🪖 Active Personnel
555,000
600,000
🎖️ Reserve Personnel
3,100,000 ★
n/a
👮 Paramilitary Forces
n/a
Financials
n/a
💰 Defense Budget
$48B ★
n/a
📈 GDP (Nominal)
$1,900B ★
Airpower
950
✈️ Total Aircraft
1,590 ★
400
🛩️ Fighter Aircraft
400
550
🛫 Bombers & Other Aircraft
1,190 ★
n/a
🚁 Helicopters (Total)
n/a
Land Power
★ 4,000
🛡️ Tank Strength
2,500
n/a
🚚 Armored Vehicles
n/a
n/a
💥 Towed Artillery
n/a
Naval Power
★ 500
⚓ Fleet Strength
230
★ 70
🌊 Submarines
22
0
🛳️ Aircraft Carriers
0
Strategic
★ 50
☢️ Nuclear Warheads
0
Full profile
🇰🇵 North Korea
Category winners count metric-by-metric leads only; "n/a" values count as zero, so data gaps can skew a category. Cross-check before citing.