SEOUL — North Korea's economy grew an estimated 3.5% in 2025, the third consecutive year of expansion above 3%, South Korea's central bank said, supported by closer ties with Russia and China. Satellite data show the capital, Pyongyang, glowing far brighter at night than a few years ago, but the gains remain narrow, and average incomes in the North are a small fraction of those in the South.

The Bank of Korea said in a report released July 31 that North Korean real gross domestic product grew 3.5% last year, following 3.7% growth in 2024 and 3.1% in 2023. "Expanded economic cooperation with Russia, increased trade with China and national policy projects helped North Korea post growth of more than 3 percent for three consecutive years," a bank official said. "In particular, the North's real GDP has surpassed its 2017 level, when United Nations sanctions were imposed," the official added, according to The Korea Times. The figures are the central bank's estimates rather than official North Korean statistics.

Mining and manufacturing accounted for 30.1% of the North's economy, services for 29.6% and agriculture for 21.2%, the bank said. North Korea's nominal gross national income was estimated at 48.5 trillion won, about $33.8 billion, in 2025, or just 1.8% of South Korea's 2,717.1 trillion won. Per capita, the North's income stood at 1.87 million won, about 3.6% of South Korea's 52.57 million won, or roughly one twenty-eighth. Some summaries of the data have conflated the two ratios, which measure different things: the North's total national income is 1.8% of the........

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