##ciekawa_strona##
Compare Benin (2002) - Korea, North (2005)
Compare Benin (2002) z Korea, North (2005)
| Benin (2002) | Korea, North (2005) | |
 |  | |
| Administrative divisions | 12 provinces; Alibori, Atakora, Atlantique, Borgou, Collines, Couffo, Donga, Littoral, Mono, Oueme, Plateau, Zou | 9 provinces (do, singular and plural) and 4 municipalities (si, singular and plural)
provinces: Chagang-do (Chagang), Hamgyong-bukto (North Hamgyong), Hamgyong-namdo (South Hamgyong), Hwanghae-bukto (North Hwanghae), Hwanghae-namdo (South Hwanghae), Kangwon-do (Kangwon), P'yongan-bukto (North P'yongan), P'yongan-namdo (South P'yongan), Yanggang-do (Yanggang) municipalites: Kaesong-si (Kaesong), Najin Sonbong-si (Najin), Namp'o-si (Namp'o), P'yongyang-si (Pyongyang) |
| Age structure | 0-14 years: 47.2% (male 1,616,138; female 1,585,463)
15-64 years: 50.5% (male 1,665,439; female 1,764,966) 65 years and over: 2.3% (male 65,877; female 89,742) (2002 est.) |
0-14 years: 24.2% (male 2,816,844/female 2,735,478)
15-64 years: 67.9% (male 7,668,581/female 7,883,267) 65 years and over: 7.9% (male 625,819/female 1,182,188) (2005 est.) |
| Agriculture - products | cotton, corn, cassava (tapioca), yams, beans, palm oil, peanuts, livestock (2001) | rice, corn, potatoes, soybeans, pulses; cattle, pigs, pork, eggs |
| Airports | 5 (2001) | 78 (2004 est.) |
| Airports - with paved runways | total: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (2002) |
total: 35
over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 23 1,524 to 2,437 m: 6 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 3 (2004 est.) |
| Airports - with unpaved runways | total: 4
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 2 (2002) |
total: 43
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 20 914 to 1,523 m: 14 under 914 m: 8 (2004 est.) |
| Area | total: 112,620 sq km
land: 110,620 sq km water: 2,000 sq km |
total: 120,540 sq km
land: 120,410 sq km water: 130 sq km |
| Area - comparative | slightly smaller than Pennsylvania | slightly smaller than Mississippi |
| Background | Dahomey gained its independence from France in 1960; the name was changed to Benin in 1975. From 1974 to 1989 the country was a socialist state; free elections were reestablished in 1991. | An independent kingdom under Chinese suzerainty for most of the past millennium, Korea was occupied by Japan in 1905 following the Russo-Japanese War; five years later, Japan formally annexed the entire peninsula. Following World War II, Korea was split with the northern half coming under Soviet-sponsored Communist domination. After failing in the Korean War (1950-53) to conquer the US-backed republic in the southern portion by force, North Korea, under its founder President KIM Il Sung, adopted a policy of ostensible diplomatic and economic "self-reliance" as a check against excessive Soviet or Communist Chinese influence. It molded political, economic, and military policies around the core ideological objective of eventual unification of Korea under Pyongyang's control. KIM's son, the current ruler KIM Jong Il, was officially designated as KIM's successor in 1980 and assumed a growing political and managerial role until his father's death in 1994. He assumed full power without opposition. After decades of economic mismanagement and resource misallocation, the North since the mid-1990s has relied heavily on international aid to feed its population while continuing to expend resources to maintain an army of about 1 million. North Korea's long-range missile development and research into nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and massive conventional armed forces are of major concern to the international community. In December 2002, following revelations it was pursuing a nuclear weapons program based on enriched uranium in violation of a 1994 agreement with the United States to freeze and ultimately dismantle its existing plutonium-based program, North Korea expelled monitors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In January 2003, it declared its withdrawal from the international Non-Proliferation Treaty. In mid-2003 Pyongyang announced it had completed the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel rods (to extract weapons-grade plutonium) and was developing a "nuclear deterrent." From August 2003, North Korea has participated on and off in six-party talks with the China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the United States to resolve the stalemate over its nuclear programs. |
| Birth rate | 43.66 births/1,000 population (2002 est.) | 16.09 births/1,000 population (2005 est.) |
| Budget | revenues: $377.4 million
expenditures: $561.8 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (2001) |
revenues: NA
expenditures: NA, including capital expenditures of NA |
| Capital | Porto-Novo is the official capital; Cotonou is the seat of government | Pyongyang |
| Climate | tropical; hot, humid in south; semiarid in north | temperate with rainfall concentrated in summer |
| Coastline | 121 km | 2,495 km |
| Constitution | December 1990 | adopted 1948; completely revised 27 December 1972, revised again in April 1992, and September 1998 |
| Country name | conventional long form: Republic of Benin
conventional short form: Benin local long form: Republique du Benin local short form: Benin former: Dahomey |
conventional long form: Democratic People's Republic of Korea
conventional short form: North Korea local long form: Choson-minjujuui-inmin-konghwaguk local short form: none note: the North Koreans generally use the term "Choson" to refer to their country abbreviation: DPRK |
| Currency | Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XOF); note - responsible authority is the Central Bank of the West African States | - |
| Death rate | 14.52 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.) | 7.05 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.) |
| Debt - external | $1.18 billion (2000) | $12 billion (1996 est.) |
| Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Pamela E. BRIDGEWATER
embassy: Rue Caporal Bernard Anani, Cotonou mailing address: 01 B. P. 2012, Cotonou telephone: [229] 30-06-50 FAX: [229] 30-06-70 |
none (Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang represents the US as consular protecting power) |
| Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission: Ambassador Cyrille Segbe OGUIN
chancery: 2124 Kalorama Road NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 232-6656 FAX: [1] (202) 265-1996 |
none; North Korea has a Permanent Mission to the UN in New York |
| Disputes - international | Benin and Niger have refered to the ICJ the dispute over l'Ete and 14 smaller disputed islands in the Niger River, which has never been delimited; with Nigeria, several villages are in dispute along the Okpara River and only 35 km of the 436 km boundary are demarcated; the Benin-Niger-Nigeria tripoint remains undemarcated; Benin accuses Togo of moving boundary markers and stationing troops in its territory; two villages are in dispute with Burkina Faso | China seeks to stem illegal migration of tens of thousands of North Koreans escaping famine, economic privation, and political oppression; North Korea and China dispute the sovereignty of certain islands in Yalu and Tumen rivers and a section of boundary around Paektu-san (mountain) is indefinite; Military Demarcation Line within the 4-km wide Demilitarized Zone has separated North from South Korea since 1953; periodic maritime disputes with South over the Northern Limit Line; North Korea supports South Korea in rejecting Japan's claim to Liancourt Rocks (Tok-do/Take-shima) |
| Economic aid - recipient | $342.6 million (2000) | NA; note - over $117 million in food aid through the World Food Program in 2003 plus additional aid from bilateral donors and non-governmental organizations |
| Economy - overview | The economy of Benin remains underdeveloped and dependent on subsistence agriculture, cotton production, and regional trade. Growth in real output averaged a stable 5% in the past five years, but rapid population rise offset much of this increase. Inflation has subsided over the past several years. In order to raise growth still further, Benin plans to attract more foreign investment, place more emphasis on tourism, facilitate the development of new food processing systems and agricultural products, and encourage new information and communication technology. The 2001 privatization policy should continue in telecommunications, water, electricity, and agriculture in spite of initial government reluctance. The Paris Club and bilateral creditors have eased the external debt situation. | North Korea, one of the world's most centrally planned and isolated economies, faces desperate economic conditions. Industrial capital stock is nearly beyond repair as a result of years of underinvestment and spare parts shortages. Industrial and power output have declined in parallel. The nation has suffered its eleventh year of food shortages because of a lack of arable land, collective farming, weather-related problems, and chronic shortages of fertilizer and fuel. Massive international food aid deliveries have allowed the regime to escape mass starvation since 1995, but the population remains the victim of prolonged malnutrition and deteriorating living conditions. Large-scale military spending eats up resources needed for investment and civilian consumption. In July 2002, the government took limited steps toward a freer market economy. In 2004, heightened political tensions with key donor countries and general donor fatigue threatened the flow of desperately needed food aid and fuel aid. Black market prices have continued to rise following the increase in official prices and wages in the summer of 2002, leaving some vulnerable groups, such as the elderly and unemployed, less able to buy goods. In 2004, the regime allowed private markets to sell a wider range of goods and permitted private farming on an experimental basis in an effort to boost agricultural output. Firm political control remains the Communist government's overriding concern, which will constrain any further loosening of economic regulations. |
| Electricity - consumption | 523.2 million kWh (2000) | 31.26 billion kWh (2002) |
| Electricity - exports | 0 kWh (2000) | 0 kWh (2002) |
| Electricity - imports | 300 million kWh (2000) | 0 kWh (2002) |
| Electricity - production | 240 million kWh (2000) | 33.62 billion kWh (2002) |
| Electricity - production by source | fossil fuel: 17%
hydro: 83% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (2000) |
- |
| Elevation extremes | lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Mont Sokbaro 658 m |
lowest point: Sea of Japan 0 m
highest point: Paektu-san 2,744 m |
| Environment - current issues | inadequate supplies of potable water; poaching threatens wildlife populations; deforestation; desertification | water pollution; inadequate supplies of potable water; waterborne disease; deforestation; soil erosion and degradation |
| Environment - international agreements | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
party to: Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Environmental Modification, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution
signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea |
| Ethnic groups | African 99% (42 ethnic groups, most important being Fon, Adja, Yoruba, Bariba), Europeans 5,500 | racially homogeneous; there is a small Chinese community and a few ethnic Japanese |
| Exchange rates | Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 742.79 (January 2002), 733.04 (2001), 711.98 (2000), 615.70 (1999), 589.95 (1998), 583.67 (1997); note - from 1 January 1999, the XOF is pegged to the euro at a rate of 655.957 XOF per euro | official: North Korean won per US dollar - 170 (December 2004), 150 (December 2002), 2.15 (December 2001); market: North Korean won per US dollar - 300-600 (December 2002) |
| Executive branch | chief of state: President Mathieu KEREKOU (since 4 April 1996); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government
head of government: President Mathieu KEREKOU (since 4 April 1996); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president elections: president reelected by popular vote for a five-year term; runoff election held 22 March 2001 (next to be held NA March 2006) election results: Mathieu KEREKOU reelected president; percent of vote - Mathieu KEREKOU 84.1%, Bruno AMOUSSOU 15.9% note: the four top-ranking contenders following the first-round presidential elections were: Mathieu KEREKOU (incumbent) 45.4%, Nicephore SOGOLO (former president) 27.1%, Adrien HOUNGBEDJI (National Assembly Speaker) 12.6%, and Bruno AMOUSSOU (Minister of State) 8.6%; the second-round balloting, originally scheduled for 18 March 2001, was postponed four days because both SOGOLO and HOUNGBEDJI withdrew alleging electoral fraud; this left KEREKOU to run against his own Minister of State, AMOUSSOU, in what was termed a "friendly match" |
chief of state: KIM Jong Il (since July 1994); note - on 3 September 2003, rubberstamp Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) reelected KIM Jong Il Chairman of the National Defense Commission, a position accorded nation's "highest administrative authority"; SPA reelected KIM Yong Nam President of its Presidium also with responsibility of representing state and receiving diplomatic credentials; SPA appointed PAK Pong Ju Premier
head of government: Premier PAK Pong Ju (since 3 September 2003); Vice Premiers KWAK Pom Gi (since 5 September 1998), JON Sung Hun (since 3 September 2003), RO Tu Chol (since 3 September 2003) cabinet: Cabinet (Naegak), members, except for the Minister of People's Armed Forces, are appointed by the SPA elections: election last held in September 2003 (next to be held in September 2008) election results: KIM Jong Il and KIM Yong Nam were only nominees for positions and ran unopposed |
| Exports | $35.3 million f.o.b. (2000) | NA |
| Exports - commodities | cotton, crude oil, palm products, cocoa | minerals, metallurgical products, manufactures (including armaments); textiles and fishery products |
| Exports - partners | Brazil, France, Indonesia, Thailand, Morocco, Portugal, Cote d'Ivoire (2001) | China 29.9%, South Korea 24.1%, Japan 13.2% (2004) |
| Fiscal year | calendar year | calendar year |
| Flag description | two equal horizontal bands of yellow (top) and red with a vertical green band on the hoist side | three horizontal bands of blue (top), red (triple width), and blue; the red band is edged in white; on the hoist side of the red band is a white disk with a red five-pointed star |
| GDP | purchasing power parity - $6.8 billion (2001 est.) | - |
| GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 36%
industry: 14% services: 50% (2001 est.) |
agriculture: 30.2%
industry: 33.8% services: 36% (2002 est.) |
| GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $1,040 (2001 est.) | purchasing power parity - $1,700 (2004 est.) |
| GDP - real growth rate | 5.4% (2001 est.) | 1% (2004 est.) |
| Geographic coordinates | 9 30 N, 2 15 E | 40 00 N, 127 00 E |
| Geography - note | sandbanks create difficult access to a coast with no natural harbors, river mouths, or islands | strategic location bordering China, South Korea, and Russia; mountainous interior is isolated and sparsely populated |
| Heliports | - | 19 (2004 est.) |
| Highways | total: 6,787 km
paved: 1,357 km (including 10 km of expressways) unpaved: 5,430 km (1997 est.) |
total: 31,200 km
paved: 1,997 km unpaved: 29,203 km (1999 est.) |
| Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA% |
lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA |
| Illicit drugs | transshipment point for narcotics associated with Nigerian trafficking organizations and most commonly destined for Western Europe and the US; vulnerable to money laundering due to a poorly regulated financial infrastructure | for years, from the 1970's into the 2000's, citizens of the Democratic People's Republic of (North) Korea (DPRK), many of them diplomatic employees of the government, were apprehended abroad while trafficking in narcotics, including two in Turkey in December 2004; in recent years, police investigations in Taiwan and Japan have linked North Korea to large illicit shipments of heroin and methamphetamine, including an attempt by the North Korean merchant ship Pong Su to deliver 150 kg of heroin to Australia in April 2003; all indications point to North Korea emerging as an important regional source of illicit drugs targeting markets in Japan, Taiwan, the Russian Far East, and China |
| Imports | $437.6 million c.i.f. (2000) | 11,500 bbl/day (2003 est.) |
| Imports - commodities | foodstuffs, capital goods, petroleum products | petroleum, coking coal, machinery and equipment; textiles, grain |
| Imports - partners | France, US, China, Cote d'Ivoire, Netherlands, Japan (2001) | China 32.9%, Thailand 10.7%, Japan 4.8% (2004) |
| Independence | 1 August 1960 (from France) | 15 August 1945 (from Japan) |
| Industrial production growth rate | 8.3% (2001 est.) | NA |
| Industries | textiles, food processing, chemical production, construction materials (2001) | military products; machine building, electric power, chemicals; mining (coal, iron ore, magnesite, graphite, copper, zinc, lead, and precious metals), metallurgy; textiles, food processing; tourism |
| Infant mortality rate | 88.52 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.) | total: 24.04 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 25.77 deaths/1,000 live births female: 22.23 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.) |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 3% (2001 est.) | NA (2003 est.) |
| International organization participation | ACP, AfDB, CCC, ECA, ECOWAS, Entente, FAO, FZ, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO (subscriber), ITU, MIPONUH, MONUC, NAM, OAU, OIC, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMEE, UNMIK, UPU, WADB (regional), WAEMU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO | ARF, FAO, G-77, ICAO, ICRM, IFAD, IFRCS, IHO, IMO, IOC, ISO, ITU, NAM, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO |
| Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | 4 (2002) | - |
| Irrigated land | 120 sq km (1998 est.) | 14,600 sq km (1998 est.) |
| Judicial branch | Constitutional Court or Cour Constitutionnelle; Supreme Court or Cour Supreme; High Court of Justice | Central Court (judges are elected by the Supreme People's Assembly) |
| Labor force | NA | 9.6 million |
| Labor force - by occupation | - | agricultural 36%, nonagricultural 64% |
| Land boundaries | total: 1,989 km
border countries: Burkina Faso 306 km, Niger 266 km, Nigeria 773 km, Togo 644 km |
total: 1,673 km
border countries: China 1,416 km, South Korea 238 km, Russia 19 km |
| Land use | arable land: 15.28%
permanent crops: 1.36% other: 83.36% (1998 est.) |
arable land: 20.76%
permanent crops: 2.49% other: 76.75% (2001) |
| Languages | French (official), Fon and Yoruba (most common vernaculars in south), tribal languages (at least six major ones in north) | Korean |
| Legal system | based on French civil law and customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction | based on German civil law system with Japanese influences and Communist legal theory; no judicial review of legislative acts; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
| Legislative branch | unicameral National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale (83 seats; members are elected by direct popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 30 March 1999 (next to be held 30 March 2003) election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - RB 27, PRD 11, FARD-ALAFIA 10, PSD 9, MADEP 6, Alliance E'toile 4, IPD 4, other 12 |
unicameral Supreme People's Assembly or Ch'oego Inmin Hoeui (687 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
elections: last held 3 August 2003 (next to be held in August 2008) election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - NA; ruling party approves a list of candidates who are elected without opposition; some seats are held by minor parties |
| Life expectancy at birth | total population: 49.69 years
male: 48.81 years female: 50.61 years (2002 est.) |
total population: 71.37 years
male: 68.65 years female: 74.22 years (2005 est.) |
| Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 37.5% male: 52.2% female: 23.6% (2000) |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99% male: 99% female: 99% |
| Location | Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Nigeria and Togo | Eastern Asia, northern half of the Korean Peninsula bordering the Korea Bay and the Sea of Japan, between China and South Korea |
| Map references | Africa | Asia |
| Maritime claims | territorial sea: 200 NM | territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm note: military boundary line 50 nm in the Sea of Japan and the exclusive economic zone limit in the Yellow Sea where all foreign vessels and aircraft without permission are banned |
| Merchant marine | none (2002 est.) | total: 238 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 985,108 GRT/1,389,389 DWT
by type: bulk carrier 13, cargo 191, container 2, livestock carrier 4, passenger/cargo 5, petroleum tanker 13, refrigerated cargo 5, roll on/roll off 5 foreign-owned: 52 (China 1, Denmark 2, France 1, Greece 4, Italy 1, Lebanon 4, Lithuania 1, Netherlands 1, Pakistan 2, Romania 10, Russia 2, Singapore 2, South Korea 2, Syria 9, Turkey 6, Ukraine 1, UAE 3) (2005) |
| Military branches | Armed Forces (including Army, Navy, Air Force), National Gendarmerie | North Korean People's Army: Ground Force, Navy, Air Force; Civil Security Forces (2005) |
| Military expenditures - dollar figure | $27 million (FY96) | $5,217.4 million (FY02) |
| Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 1.2% (FY96) | NA |
| Military manpower - availability | males age 15-49: 1,509,760
females age 15-49: 1,536,036 note: both sexes are liable for military service (2002 est.) |
- |
| Military manpower - fit for military service | males age 15-49: 771,373
females age 15-49: 778,730 (2002 est.) |
- |
| Military manpower - military age | 18 years of age (2002 est.) | - |
| Military manpower - reaching military age annually | males: 71,278
females: 70,088 (2002 est.) |
- |
| National holiday | National Day, 1 August (1960) | Founding of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), 9 September (1948) |
| Nationality | noun: Beninese (singular and plural)
adjective: Beninese |
noun: Korean(s)
adjective: Korean |
| Natural hazards | hot, dry, dusty harmattan wind may affect north from December to March | late spring droughts often followed by severe flooding; occasional typhoons during the early fall |
| Natural resources | small offshore oil deposits, limestone, marble, timber | coal, lead, tungsten, zinc, graphite, magnesite, iron ore, copper, gold, pyrites, salt, fluorspar, hydropower |
| Net migration rate | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.) | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.) |
| Pipelines | - | oil 154 km (2004) |
| Political parties and leaders | African Movement for Democracy and Progress or MADEP [Sefou FAGBOHOUN]; Alliance of the Social Democratic Party or PSD [Bruno AMOUSSOU]; Democratic Renewal Party or PRD [Adrien HOUNGBEDJI]; Front for Renewal and Development or FARD-ALAFIA [Saka SALEY]; Impulse for Progress and Democracy or IPD [Bertin BORNA]; Movement for Citizens' Commitment and Awakening or MERCI [Severin ADJOVI]; Renaissance Party du Benin or RB [Nicephore SOGLO]; The Star Alliance (Alliance E'toile) [Sacca LAFIA]
note: approximately 20 additional minor parties; the Coalition of Democratic Forces, [Gatien HOUNGBEDJI], an alliance of parties and organizations supporting President KEREKOU |
major party - Korean Workers' Party or KWP [KIM Jong Il, general secretary]; minor parties - Chondoist Chongu Party [RYU Mi Yong, chairwoman] (under KWP control); Social Democratic Party [KIM Yong Dae, chairman] (under KWP control) |
| Political pressure groups and leaders | NA | none |
| Population | 6,787,625
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2002 est.) |
22,912,177 (July 2005 est.) |
| Population below poverty line | 37% (2001 est.) | NA |
| Population growth rate | 2.91% (2002 est.) | 0.9% (2005 est.) |
| Ports and harbors | Cotonou, Porto-Novo | Ch'ongjin, Haeju, Hungnam (Hamhung), Kimch'aek, Kosong, Najin, Namp'o, Sinuiju, Songnim, Sonbong (formerly Unggi), Ungsang, Wonsan |
| Radio broadcast stations | AM 2, FM 9, shortwave 4 (2000) | AM 17 (including 11 stations of Korean Central Broadcasting Station), FM 14, shortwave 14 (2003) |
| Radios | 660,000 (2000) | - |
| Railways | total: 578 km
narrow gauge: 578 km 1.000-m gauge (2000 est.) |
total: 5,214 km
standard gauge: 5,214 km 1.435-m gauge (3,500 km electrified) (2004) |
| Religions | indigenous beliefs 50%, Christian 30%, Muslim 20% | traditionally Buddhist and Confucianist, some Christian and syncretic Chondogyo (Religion of the Heavenly Way)
note: autonomous religious activities now almost nonexistent; government-sponsored religious groups exist to provide illusion of religious freedom |
| Sex ratio | at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.94 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.73 male(s)/female total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2002 est.) |
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.03 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.53 male(s)/female total population: 0.94 male(s)/female (2005 est.) |
| Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | 17 years of age; universal |
| Telephone system | general assessment: NA
domestic: fair system of open wire, microwave radio relay, and cellular connections international: satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean); submarine cable |
general assessment: NA
domestic: NA international: country code - 850; satellite earth stations - 1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) and 1 Russian (Indian Ocean region); other international connections through Moscow and Beijing |
| Telephones - main lines in use | 51,000 (2000) | 1.1 million (2001) |
| Telephones - mobile cellular | 55,500 (2000) | NA |
| Television broadcast stations | 1 (2001) | 4 (includes Korean Central Television, Mansudae Television, Korean Educational and Cultural Network, and Kaesong Television targeting South Korea) (2003) |
| Terrain | mostly flat to undulating plain; some hills and low mountains | mostly hills and mountains separated by deep, narrow valleys; coastal plains wide in west, discontinuous in east |
| Total fertility rate | 6.14 children born/woman (2002 est.) | 2.15 children born/woman (2005 est.) |
| Unemployment rate | NA% | NA (2003) |
| Waterways | streams navigable along small sections, important only locally | 2,250 km
note: most navigable only by small craft (2004) |
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