The under five and neonatal mortality rates in North Korea are substantially lower than the developing country average, according to a new report from UNICEF,
Reporting yesterday on the UNICEF report, ‘The State of the World’s Children 2012’, VOA revealed that North Korea ranks joint 73rd out of a total of 193 countries, with an under-five mortality rate of just 33/1000, which compares favorably with a developing country average of 63, but lingers far behind South Korea at 5/1000.
On the face of it, the new statistics appear to reflect improving conditions in the North since 2000, when the country began to emerge from the devastating famine that killed millions and sent the under-five mortality rate skittling from a 1990 base line of 45 up to 58 by 2000, just ten years later.
However, conditions are still highly unfavorable for North Korean children, with 6% born underweight, 19% of under-fives being underweight and 32% being below average height.
