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Capitals of the world
Pyongyang, capital of North Korea: facts and figures
Pyongyang is the capital of North Korea. It has about 3,000,000 residents, which makes it the 49th most populous capital of the 172 in DailyGeo's atlas, and it sits 74 m above sea level. Its nearest neighbouring capital is Seoul, 195 km away.
Key figures
| Figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Country | North Korea |
| Continent | Asia |
| City population | 3,000,000 residents |
| World rank by population | 49th of 172 |
| Elevation | 74 m |
| Founded | not reported |
| Time zone | Asia/Pyongyang |
| Coordinates | 39.04° N, 125.76° E |
| Country population | 26,571,036 residents |
| Country GDP | not reported |
| GDP per capita | not reported |
| Life expectancy | 73.7 years |
| Internet users | 0.0 % |
| Big Mac price | not reported |
Climate through the year
Pyongyang averages -3.3 °C in winter and 23.6 °C in summer. January is the coldest month of the year and July the warmest, and the city receives 1,201 mm of precipitation in an average year.
| Month | Mean temperature |
|---|---|
| January | -4.9 °C |
| February | -1.6 °C |
| March | 4.5 °C |
| April | 11.2 °C |
| May | 16.8 °C |
| June | 21.3 °C |
| July | 24.8 °C |
| August | 24.8 °C |
| September | 20.2 °C |
| October | 12.6 °C |
| November | 4.5 °C |
| December | -3.3 °C |
What makes it stand out
- Winter: 3rd coldest capital in Asia (-3.3 °C).
Nearest capitals
Distances are great-circle distances between city centres, which is what the Capitals game measures when it tells you how far a guess was from the answer. Seoul is the closest capital to Pyongyang.
| Capital | Country | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Seoul | South Korea | 195 km |
| Beijing | China | 808 km |
| Tokyo | Japan | 1,285 km |
| Taipei | Taiwan | 1,607 km |
| Ulaanbaatar | Mongolia | 1,804 km |
How to remember it
Reading a figure once rarely fixes it in memory. Attach Pyongyang to a place and a number you already know: it is 195 km from Seoul, and it is the 49th largest capital in the atlas. Then practise retrieving it. DailyGeo Capitals gives you one mystery capital a day with distance, direction, language and population clues, the memorising method explains the review schedule, and the capitals index lists all 172.
To see how North Korea compares with every other country on figures like these, the most populous countries ranks them on geopolitix, a country-ranking game by the same maker as DailyGeo.
Sources
- City population and coordinates: DailyGeo's own game data, the same figures the Capitals game plays with. Population follows the urban area rather than the commune, which is why no density is quoted.
- Temperature and rainfall: ten-year means (2015 to 2024) computed from ERA5 reanalysis, retrieved through Open-Meteo. Hersbach, H., et al. (2020). The ERA5 global reanalysis. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society.
- Elevation: terrain height at the city's coordinates in the Copernicus DEM, read through Open-Meteo rather than taken from a curated claim.
- Time zone: resolved from the same coordinates.
- This capital elsewhere: Wikipedia, UNdata, Wikidata.
- Method and limits: How this data was collected explains how each figure was collected and what it does not cover.
The short answer
Pyongyang is the capital of North Korea, in Asia, with about 3,000,000 residents, averaging -3.3 °C in winter and 23.6 °C in summer.
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Play today's DailyGeo puzzleFrequently asked questions
What is the capital of North Korea?
Pyongyang is the capital of North Korea. It has about 3,000,000 residents and lies in Asia.
How many people live in Pyongyang?
About 3,000,000, which ranks Pyongyang 49th of the 172 capitals in DailyGeo's atlas by city population.
What is the weather like in Pyongyang?
Pyongyang averages -3.3 °C in winter and 23.6 °C in summer, with 1,201 mm of precipitation a year. These are ten-year means from ERA5 reanalysis.
How expensive is Pyongyang?
The World Bank does not report a recent GDP per capita figure for this country.
Keep learning
- Seoul, capital of South Korea: facts and figures
Seoul is the capital of South Korea: 9,700,000 residents, 37 m above sea level, -1.6 °C in winter and 24.2 °C in summer. Key figures and sources.
- Beijing, capital of China: facts and figures
Beijing is the capital of China: 21,500,000 residents, 52 m above sea level, -1.7 °C in winter and 26.2 °C in summer. Key figures and sources.
- Tokyo, capital of Japan: facts and figures
Tokyo is the capital of Japan: 37,400,000 residents, 43 m above sea level, 5.3 °C in winter and 25.1 °C in summer. Key figures and sources.
- Capitals of the world: the full list by continent
Every capital in DailyGeo's atlas, grouped by continent, with population, elevation and winter and summer temperatures, each linking to its own data page.