[imText1]Average life expectancy gap between North and South Korea is 13.1 years for men and 14.6 years for women.
Demographic Health and Welfare Association, along with the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, released ‘World Population Status Report 2006’ on Wednesday. According to the report, average life expectancy of North Korean men is 61.1 years old, ranked 100th in the world, and that of North Korean women is 66.9, ranked 98th.
South Korean male average life expectancy (ALE) is 74.2, ranked 30th and female ALE is 81.5, 18th longest in the world. In average, South Korean men live 13.1 years longer than North Korean counterpart and S. Korean women enjoy 14.6 years longer lives than female population of N. Korea do.
North Korean male and female ALE are even lower than those of the world average; male ALE in the world is 63.9, that of female ALE is 68.4.
South Korea’s infant mortality is 3 per 1,000, one of the lowest along with Japan, Singapore, Norway and Sweden, but North Korea’s is 43 per 1,000, ranking 93rd in the world.
In case of birth rate, North Korea is ranked 51st with 1.95 and South Korean fertility rate is 1.19, which is the fourth lowest in the world.
155 participating countries’ average fertility rate is 2.58 and among the developed countries, the rate is 1.58.
It is suggested that North Korea’s lower birth rate compared to the world average is caused by the famine since the mid 90s.
Through a telephone interview, a former defector from North Korea, Mr. Choi, said that few married couple gave birth to child during the Great Famine in the mid 90s, and after 1999 couples started to bear children.
By the way, the world population is 6.54 billion, 1.1% more than last year, and China has the most population in the world, 1.32 billion. South Korea is ranked 25th with 48 million population, and North Korea has 22 million inhabitants, which is 48th most in the world.
