A curvature corrected bandgap reference circuit comprises a first bipolar transistor having a base-emitter voltage V.sub.be1 and operated such that it has a constant operating current, and a second bipolar transistor having a base-emitter voltage V.sub.be2 and operated such that it has an operating current consisting of an approximately temperature proportional component and a non-linear component. The circuit is arranged such that the ratio of the current densities in the two transistors varies with temperature, such that the difference voltage (.DELTA.V.sub.be=V.sub.be1-V.sub.be2) includes a residual component which approximately compensates bandgap curvature error.