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Seoul — UN urban centre

22,490,482

Seoul: 22,490,482 people. Reference: 2025 annual estimate · World rank #10 of 12,138 source urban centres. Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (CC BY 3.0 IGO). Source identifier: 332; territory: South Korea (KOR). UN source workbook.

Method: Degree of Urbanisation (contiguous 1 km2 cells, density 1,500+ people/km2, total 50,000+). This is a source-defined urban centre, not a municipality or province. No association with a separate administrative entity is inferred from proximity or name.

Source centroid: 37.4975, 126.9485. National context uses World Bank estimates, a separate series and geography; no national share is inferred here.

UN population series

YearPeopleMethod
197510,079,046Estimate
198012,173,872Estimate
198514,400,888Estimate
199016,913,185Estimate
199517,839,491Estimate
200018,962,544Estimate
200519,861,300Estimate
201020,547,751Estimate
201521,459,415Estimate
202022,235,497Estimate
202522,490,482Estimate
203022,626,893Projection
203522,562,299Projection
204022,289,491Projection
204521,844,921Projection
205021,225,404Projection

Largest UN urban centres · Fastest-growing urban centres

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This page is a structured reference entry. Its sources, geographic definition and reference dates determine what the figures mean; it is not independent reporting about the causes of change. Read the accompanying explanation before comparing different places or vintages.

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Interpretation reviewed 12 October 2026. Underlying reference years are stated on the page; this is not a fresh census or dataset refresh.