North Korea's urban population increased this year compared with five years ago, with more than 60 percent of the total population living in urban areas, though the figure is still one of the lowest in the region, a UN report showed Tuesday.

According to the "World Cities Report" by UN-Habitat, the number of North Koreans living in urban areas, including the capital city of Pyongyang, came to 16.12 million as of mid-year, accounting for 62.4 percent of the total population, up from 15.46 million in mid-2015.

The figure is the second lowest percentage of urban population in East Asia, only next to China where 61.4 percent of the population resides in urban areas. It is also significantly lower than South Korea's urban population, which came to 81.4 percent this year.

The average global percentage of urban population this year was 56.2 percent.

The agency projected the North's urban population to grow to 16.81 million by 2025 and to 17.53 million by 2030. (Yonhap)