Korea, North - Country information


		Korea, North	Population Government Economy Geography Communication Transportation

Population		Top of page

Inhabitants		Life expectancy
23,301,725 (July 2007 est.)		total population: 71.92 years male: 69.18 years female: 74.8 years (2007 est.)

Ethnic groups		Religions
racially homogeneous; there is a small Chinese community and a few ethnic Japanese		traditionally Buddhist and Confucianist, some Christian and syncretic Chondogyo (Religion of the Heavenly Way)

Languages		Literacy
Korean		definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 99% male: 99% female: 99%

Government		Top of page

Government type		Capital
Communist state one-man dictatorship		Pyongyang

Independance		National day
15 August 1945 (from Japan)		Founding of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), 9 September (1948)

Constitution		Legal system
adopted 1948; completely revised 27 December 1972, revised again in April 1992, and September 1998		based on Prussian civil law system with Japanese influences and Communist legal theory; no judicial review of legislative acts; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Economy		Top of page

GDP (purchasing power parity)		Growth rate
NA (2006 est.)		1% (2006 est.)

GDP per inhabitant		Unemployment rate
$1,800 (2006 est.)		NA%

Population below poverty line		Inflation rate
NA%		NA%

Exports		Imports
$1.34 billion f.o.b. (2005)		$2.72 billion c.i.f. (2005)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold		Currency
		North Korean won (KPW)

Military expenditures
NA

Geography		Top of page

Location		Area
Eastern Asia, northern half of the Korean Peninsula bordering the Korea Bay and the Sea of Japan (East Sea), between China and South Korea		120,540 sq km

Climate		Natural resources
temperate with rainfall concentrated in summer		coal, lead, tungsten, zinc, graphite, magnesite, iron ore, copper, gold, pyrites, salt, fluorspar, hydropower

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