Population: North Korea’s population was estimated in July 2004 at 22,697,553. The annual population growth rate is 0.9 percent. United Nations (UN) estimates for 2002 indicate that North Korea’s population density stood at 183.6 persons per square kilometer; 40 percent of the population lived in rural and 60 percent in urban areas.

Demography: According to estimates of North Korea’s age structure, 24.6 percent of inhabitants are between zero and 14 years of age, 67.8 percent are between 15 and 64 years of age, and 7.6 percent are 65 and older. Estimates made in 2004 indicate a birthrate of nearly 16.8 births per 1,000 population and a death rate of just over 6.9 deaths per 1,000. In 2004 life expectancy was estimated at 73.9 years for women and 68.4 for men, or nearly 71.1 years total. Other projections are much lower for both women and men. Life expectancy is not expected to improve as the first decade of the twenty-first century proceeds. The infant mortality rate was estimated at 24.8 per 1,000 live births in 2004. The total fertility rate for 2004 has been estimated at 2.2 children per woman. There is no legal migration from North Korea, and after the Korean War (1950–53) only 5,000 North Koreans successfully reached South Korea until the turn of the century. However, in 2003 and 2004 unprecedented numbers of North Koreans—estimates range between 140,000 and 300,000—fled to China with hopes of reaching South Korea. According to the U.S. Department of State, only 1,894 reached South Korea during 2004.

Ethnic Groups: The vast majority of the racially homogeneous population are ethnic Koreans. North Korea also has a few Chinese- and Japanese-speaking communities.

Language: Korean is the national language. Dialects of Korean, some of which are not mutually intelligible, are spoken throughout the country and generally coincide with provincial boundaries. The standard national pronunciation is based on the P’y4ngyang dialect. The written language employs the phonetic-based Chos4n’gul alphabet.

Religion: Traditionally, Koreans have practiced Buddhism and observed the tenets of Confucianism. Besides a small number of practicing Buddhists (about 10,000, under the auspices of the official Korean Buddhist Federation), the population also includes some Christians (about 10,000 Protestants and 4,000 Roman Catholics, under the auspices of the Korean Christian Federation) and an indeterminate number of native Ch’4ndogyo (Heavenly Way) adherents. However, religious activities are almost nonexistent. North Korea has 300 Buddhist temples, but they are considered cultural relics rather than active places of worship. Several schools for religious education exist, including three-year religious colleges for training Protestant and Buddhist clergy. In 1989 Kim Il Sung University established a religious studies program, but its graduates usually go on to work in the foreign trade sector. Although the constitution provides for freedom of religious belief, in practice the government severely discourages organized religious activity except as supervised by the aforementioned officially recognized groups. Constitutional changes made in 1992 allow authorized religious gatherings and the construction of buildings for religious use and deleted a clause about freedom of anti-religious propaganda. The constitution also stipulates that religion “should not be used for purposes of dragging in foreign powers or endangering public security.”

Education and Literacy: Education in North Korea is free, compulsory, and universal for 11 years, from ages four to 15, in state-run schools. The national literacy rate for citizens 15 years of age and older is 99 percent. According to North Korean-supplied figures provided in 2000, there were 1.5 million children in 27,017 nursery schools, 748,416 children in 14,167 kindergartens, 1.6 million students in 4,886 four-year primary schools, and 2.1 million students in 4,772 six-year secondary schools. Nearly 1.9 million students attended more than 300 colleges and universities. Data on teachers are much older. In 1988 the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reported 35,000 pre-primary, 59,000 primary, 111,000 secondary, 23,000 college and university, and 4,000 other postsecondary teachers in North Korea.

Health: North Korea has a national medical service and health insurance system. As of 2000, 99 percent of the population had access to sanitation, and 100 percent had access to water, but water was not always potable. Medical treatment is free. In the past, North Korea reportedly had one doctor for every 700 inhabitants and one hospital bed for every 350 patients. No cases of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) had been reported as of 2004. Health expenditures in 2001 represented 2.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), and 73 percent of health expenditures were made in the public sector. However, it is estimated that between 500,000 and 3 million people died from famine in the 1990s, and a 1998 United Nations (UN) World Food Program report revealed that 60 percent of children suffered from malnutrition, and 16 percent were acutely malnourished. UN statistics for the period 1999–2001 reveal that North Korea’s daily per capita food supply was one of the lowest in Asia, exceeding only that of Cambodia, Laos, and Tajikistan, and one of the lowest worldwide. Because of continuing economic problems, food shortages and chronic malnutrition prevail in the 2000s.

Welfare: Housing and food rations traditionally have been heavily subsidized, and health care has been offered for free. However, the party, state, and military elites have had much better care than the average citizen, and great inequalities exist among the various social classes. Natural disasters in the 1990s led to a breakdown in food rationing and a rising inequality of services to the extent that upward of 300,000 North Koreans may have succeeded in fleeing to China in search of food.

RECENT NEWS ARTICLES

Sympathy for North Korea after floods
16 Aug 2006 - Viet Nam News,
...storms and floods. North Korea suffered massive floods in mid-July that killed at least 549 people and left 295 missing. â€” VNS.

North Korea defends against US nuclear blackmail
16 Aug 2006 - Magazine of the Party for Socialism and Liberation
An early model of the Taepodong missile tested by North Korea, July 2006. ... This weapon is being developed specifically with Iran and North Korea in mind. ...

Group: 54,700 dead, missing in N. Korea
16 Aug 2006 - Boston Globe,
SEOUL, South Korea --A South Korean aid group claimed Wednesday that massive floods in North Korea last month left about 54,700 people dead or missing and some ...

PART 3: Dynamics of the Korea crisis
16 Aug 2006 - Asia Times Online,
To oppose with diplomatic theatrics North Korea's missile tests while the US is actively soliciting the participation of Taiwan and Japan in a theater missile ...

S. Korea calls for North to rejoin nuclear talks
Aug 15, 2006 - Jerusalem Post,
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun urged North Korea on Tuesday to return to stalled talks on its nuclear weapons program and said Seoul was ready to provide ...

North Korea permits first Russian Orthodox church
Aug 13, 2006 - Monsters and Critics.com,
Seoul - The first Russian Orthodox church in communist North Korea was opened in the capital Pyongyang Sunday, the official KCNA news agency reported. ...

[Another Korea] (193) North Korean Leaderâ€™s Taste
Aug 13, 2006 - Korea Times,
...instead. Kenji Fujimoto is a Japanese chef who worked in North Korea from 1984, and in 1988 was made Kimâ€™s exclusive sushi chef. ...

S.Korea Red Cross plans massive rice aid for North
Aug 14, 2006 - Reuters
SEOUL, Aug 14 (Reuters) - South Korea's Red Cross can give as much as 100,000 tonnes of rice to flood-ravaged North Korea in a one-time aid package, its ...

Hope for new talks with North Korea pinned to aid from South
Aug 13, 2006 - The Seoul Times,
Scarcely more than a month after refusing to ship food and fertilizer to North Korea, South Korea is proffering "strictly humanitarian" aid to help rescue the ...

Newsmakers | Who knew? Ruler of North Korea makes films, too!
Aug 13, 2006 - Philadelphia Inquirer,
According to entertainment site TMZ.com, Kim, who's long been obsessed with film, has made North Korea's biggest film hit of the year (well, according to the ...

Evangelicals break with Bush on North Korea
Aug 13, 2006 - The Christian Century
When evangelical pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren announced that he would make a preaching mission to North Korea next year, it raised eyebrows in ...

79% back fund restrictions on North Korea
Aug 14, 2006 - The Daily Yomiuri,
...support a law being considered by the Liberal Democratic Party to regulate certain financial transactions in order to contain North Korea's illegally earned ...

Week of Russian cinema kicks off in North Korea.
Aug 14, 2006 - ITAR-TASS,
Vladimir Ryasov, deputy director general of Mosfilm Russiaâ€™s biggest film-making center, said he has brought to North Korea such popular Soviet and Russian ...

Israel, North Korea, Iran Seeking Invulnerability
Aug 14, 2006 - Morocco Times,
...flailing pseudo-diplomatic attempts to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons -- or, indeed, its equally ham-fisted attempts to force North Korea to give ...

North Korea asks South for flood help
Aug 9, 2006 - Seattle Post Intelligencer
SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea has requested help from South Korea to cope with devastating floods, a South Korean citizens' group said Wednesday, a move ...

Seoul to Provide Flood Aid to North Korea
Aug 11, 2006 - Voice of America
By Naomi Martig. The South Korean government has announced a more than $10 million aid package to help flood ravaged regions of North Korea. ...

North Korea seeks flood aid from South for first time
Aug 9, 2006 - Ireland Online,
North Korea has requested help from South Korea to cope with devastating floods, a South Korean citizensâ€™ group said today, a move that could improve inter ...

North Korea Asks South for Flood Help
Aug 9, 2006 - CBS News
By KWANG-TAE KIM Associated Press Writer. (AP) North Korea has requested help from South Korea to cope with devastating floods, a South Korean citizens' group ...

S. Korea wary of sanctions against North
Aug 10, 2006 - San Jose Mercury News,
GARRISON, South Korea - South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun expressed reservations Thursday about possible new US sanctions against North Korea over its recent ...

S. Korea Wary of Sanctions Against North
Aug 10, 2006 - CBS News
...(AP) South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun expressed reservations Thursday about possible new US sanctions against North Korea over its recent missile tests, a ...

This series of profiles of foreign nations is part of the Country Studies Program, formerly the Army Area Handbook Program. The profiles offer brief, summarized information on a country’s historical background, geography, society, economy, transportation and telecommunications, government and politics, and national security. In addition to being featured in the front matter of published Country Studies, they are now being prepared as stand-alone reference aides for all countries in the series, as well as for a number of additional countries of interest. The profiles offer reasonably current country information independent of the existence of a recently published Country Study and will be updated annually or more frequently as events warrant.