8 Billion Lives
Be born

Where you could be born / Asia / Eastern Asia

Born in South Korea

About 1 in 559 people born in 2023 started life in South Korea. A boy can expect to live 81 years and a girl 87, up from 18 and 35 in 1950. Most people live in cities, and nearly everyone has basic drinking water.

1 in 559
odds of being born here
236,400 births · Ranked 81st of 230
81 / 87
years of life, boys / girls
Was 18 / 35 in 1950
$24,553
income per person a year
2021 dollars · Ranked 40th of 203 · extrapolated
81%
live in a city
The rest live in villages

Life and health

Life lasts about 58 years longer than in 1950. Child deaths fell from 349 in every 1,000 births to 2.8.

How long a life lasts

GirlsBoys

0255075100195019852023

Years a baby born that year could expect to live.

Children who die before age 5
0100200300400195019852023

In every 1,000 births.

Life expectancy at birth81.2 years for boys, 87.2 for girlsUN WPP 2024
Children who die before age 52.8 in every 1,000 birthsUN WPP 2024
Deaths a year346,000UN WPP 2024
Doctors per 1,000 people2.6World Bank WDI
Children immunized against measles97%World Bank WDI
New tuberculosis cases a year38 per 100,000 peopleWorld Bank WDI
Malaria cases a year0 per 1,000 people at riskWorld Bank WDI

Family

Women had 6.1 children on average in 1950. Now it is 0.7, below the 2.1 it takes to keep a population steady.

Children per woman
02468195019852023

Average over a lifetime.

Children per woman0.72UN WPP 2024
Average age of mothers at birth33.4 yearsUN WPP 2024

Money and work

If every 100 coins of income were shared out, the richest fifth would hold 40 and the poorest fifth 7.

Who gets the income
Share of all income by fifth of the population, 2021
7%Poorest fifth
12%Second
17%Middle
23%Fourth
40%Richest fifth
Income per personabout $24,553 a year (2021 dollars, adjusted for prices)World Bank PIP, scaled between survey years Extrapolated
Share of income going to the richest fifth / poorest fifth40% / 7% (2021)World Bank PIP
Unemployment2.7% of the workforce (2023)World Bank WDI
Price rises3.6% a year (2023)World Bank WDI
Growth in output per person1.5% (2023)World Bank WDI
Jobs in farming5% of jobsWorld Bank WDI
Self-employed23% of jobs (2025)World Bank WDI
Secondary school enrolment96% (can pass 100 when older students are counted)World Bank WDI

Daily life

The largest city is Seoul, with 10.3 million people.

81%
live in cities
100%
have electricity at home
100%
have basic drinking water
Largest cities
People living there
Seoul10.3 million
Busan3.3 million
Incheon3.0 million
Daegu2.4 million
Daejeon1.4 million
Languages
Share of people who can use each
Korean100%
Korean is official.

Cities and regions

Every state, province and large city with a page.

Largest regions

Seoul10.3 million
Gyeonggi-do10.0 million
Busan3.5 million
Incheon3.0 million
Gyeongsangnam-do3.0 million
Daegu2.4 million
Gyeongsangbuk-do2.3 million
Gwangju1.8 million
Jeollabuk-do1.8 million
Jeollanam-do1.6 million

Sourced: GeoNames Population of each state, province or region.

Large cities

Sourced: GeoNames Cities with a page: a million people or more.

All 17 regions
  • Seoul10.3 million
  • Gyeonggi-do10.0 million
  • Busan3.5 million
  • Incheon3.0 million
  • Gyeongsangnam-do3.0 million
  • Daegu2.4 million
  • Gyeongsangbuk-do2.3 million
  • Gwangju1.8 million
  • Jeollabuk-do1.8 million
  • Jeollanam-do1.6 million
  • Daejeon1.4 million
  • Gangwon-do1.4 million
  • Chungcheongnam-do1.4 million
  • North Chungcheong1.3 million
  • Ulsan1.1 million
  • Jeju-do845,121
  • Sejong-si394,630

People on the move

About 3.9% as many people born here live abroad as live here. The most common destinations are United States, Japan, Canada.

Where people born here live abroad
By country of residence, 2024
United States1,083,174
Japan393,944
Canada151,409
Residents born abroad3.5% (2024)World Bank WDI
People born here who live abroadequal to 3.9% of the people who live hereUN DESA migrant stock
Where they go mostUnited States (1.1 million), Japan (393,944), Canada (151,409)UN DESA migrant stock
Money sent home from abroadabout $7.1 billion a year (2025)World Bank WDI

Safety nets

100% of older people receive a pension. Help for someone who loses a job reaches 100%.

100%
of older people receive a pension (2022)
100%
of unemployed people receive a benefit (2021)

Events in the data

The game draws real events from these records, so a life lived here can meet them.

Reported COVID-19 deaths, 2020 to 202435,934Our World in Data, from WHO
Significant earthquakes recorded since 19501NOAA NCEI
Hurricane-strength storms since 198014NOAA IBTrACS

Now live it.

Born in South Korea, to a family drawn from these numbers. Every life replays exactly from its seed.

Be born in South Korea

Elsewhere in Asia

All countries

How to read the sources. Every figure is sourced to a named dataset, shown beside it. A figure marked "Extrapolated" is estimated by a model because no survey covers the year. UN figures are for 2023, the latest year of UN estimates; other figures are the latest year their dataset has. Rank 1 is the highest figure among 230 countries and territories. All sources and licences