Guinea-Bissau (2006) | Korea, North (2005) | |
Administrative divisions | 9 regions (regioes, singular - regiao); Bafata, Biombo, Bissau, Bolama, Cacheu, Gabu, Oio, Quinara, Tombali; note - Bolama may have been renamed Bolama/Bijagos | 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: 41.4% (male 297,623/female 298,942)
15-64 years: 55.6% (male 384,559/female 417,811) 65 years and over: 3% (male 18,048/female 25,046) (2006 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 | rice, corn, beans, cassava (tapioca), cashew nuts, peanuts, palm kernels, cotton; timber; fish | rice, corn, potatoes, soybeans, pulses; cattle, pigs, pork, eggs |
Airports | 28 (2006) | 78 (2004 est.) |
Airports - with paved runways | total: 3
over 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 1 (2006) |
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: 25
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 4 under 914 m: 20 (2006) |
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: 36,120 sq km
land: 28,000 sq km water: 8,120 sq km |
total: 120,540 sq km
land: 120,410 sq km water: 130 sq km |
Area - comparative | slightly less than three times the size of Connecticut | slightly smaller than Mississippi |
Background | Since independence from Portugal in 1974, Guinea-Bissau has experienced considerable political and military upheaval. In 1980, a military coup established authoritarian dictator Joao Bernardo 'Nino' VIEIRA as president. Despite setting a path to a market economy and multiparty system, VIEIRA's regime was characterized by the suppression of political opposition and the purging of political rivals. Several coup attempts through the 1980s and early 1990s failed to unseat him. In 1994 VIEIRA was elected president in the country's first free elections. A military mutiny and resulting civil war in 1998 eventually led to VIEIRA's ouster in May 1999. In February 2000, a transitional government turned over power to opposition leader Kumba YALA, after he was elected president in transparent polling. In September 2003, after only three years in office, YALA was ousted by the military in a bloodless coup, and businessman Henrique ROSA was sworn in as interim president. In August 2005, former President VIEIRA was re-elected president in the second round of presidential polling. Since formally assuming office in October 2005, Vieira has pledged to pursue economic development and national reconciliation. | 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 | 37.22 births/1,000 population (2006 est.) | 16.09 births/1,000 population (2005 est.) |
Budget | revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA |
revenues: NA
expenditures: NA, including capital expenditures of NA |
Capital | name: Bissau
geographic coordinates: 11 51 N, 15 35 W time difference: UTC 0 (5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
Pyongyang |
Climate | tropical; generally hot and humid; monsoonal-type rainy season (June to November) with southwesterly winds; dry season (December to May) with northeasterly harmattan winds | temperate with rainfall concentrated in summer |
Coastline | 350 km | 2,495 km |
Constitution | 16 May 1984; amended 4 May 1991, 4 December 1991, 26 February 1993, 9 June 1993, NA 1996 | adopted 1948; completely revised 27 December 1972, revised again in April 1992, and September 1998 |
Country name | conventional long form: Republic of Guinea-Bissau
conventional short form: Guinea-Bissau local long form: Republica da Guine-Bissau local short form: Guine-Bissau former: Portuguese Guinea |
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 |
Death rate | 16.53 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.) | 7.05 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.) |
Debt - external | $941.5 million (2000 est.) | $12 billion (1996 est.) |
Diplomatic representation from the US | the US Embassy suspended operations on 14 June 1998 in the midst of violent conflict between forces loyal to then President VIEIRA and military-led junta; the US Ambassador to Senegal is accredited to Guinea-Bissau | none (Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang represents the US as consular protecting power) |
Diplomatic representation in the US | chief of mission: Ambassador (vacant); note - Guinea-Bissau does not have official representation in Washington, DC; Guinea-Bissau's representative in Washington is Henrique Adriano DA SILVA, P.O. Box 33813, Washington, DC 20033, telephone: (301)947-3958 | none; North Korea has a Permanent Mission to the UN in New York |
Disputes - international | attempts to stem refugees and cross-border raids, arms smuggling, and political instability from a separatist movement in Senegal's Casamance region | 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 | $115.4 million (1995) | 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 | One of the 10 poorest countries in the world, Guinea-Bissau depends mainly on farming and fishing. Cashew crops have increased remarkably in recent years, and the country now ranks sixth in cashew production. Guinea-Bissau exports fish and seafood along with small amounts of peanuts, palm kernels, and timber. Rice is the major crop and staple food. However, intermittent fighting between Senegalese-backed government troops and a military junta destroyed much of the country's infrastructure and caused widespread damage to the economy in 1998; the civil war led to a 28% drop in GDP that year, with partial recovery in 1999-2002. Before the war, trade reform and price liberalization were the most successful part of the country's structural adjustment program under IMF sponsorship. The tightening of monetary policy and the development of the private sector had also begun to reinvigorate the economy. Because of high costs, the development of petroleum, phosphate, and other mineral resources is not a near-term prospect. However, offshore oil prospecting has begun and could lead to much-needed revenue in the long run. The inequality of income distribution is one of the most extreme in the world. The government and international donors continue to work out plans to forward economic development from a lamentably low base. In December 2003, the World Bank, IMF, and UNDP were forced to step in to provide emergency budgetary support in the amount of $107 million for 2004, representing over 80% of the total national budget. Government drift and indecision, however, have resulted in continued low growth in 2002-05. | 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 | 52.08 million kWh (2003) | 31.26 billion kWh (2002) |
Electricity - exports | 0 kWh (2003) | 0 kWh (2002) |
Electricity - imports | 0 kWh (2003) | 0 kWh (2002) |
Electricity - production | 56 million kWh (2003) | 33.62 billion kWh (2002) |
Elevation extremes | lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: unnamed location in the northeast corner of the country 300 m |
lowest point: Sea of Japan 0 m
highest point: Paektu-san 2,744 m |
Environment - current issues | deforestation; soil erosion; overgrazing; overfishing | 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, Law of the Sea, 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% (includes Balanta 30%, Fula 20%, Manjaca 14%, Mandinga 13%, Papel 7%), European and mulatto less than 1% | racially homogeneous; there is a small Chinese community and a few ethnic Japanese |
Exchange rates | Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 527.47 (2005), 528.29 (2004), 581.2 (2003), 696.99 (2002), 733.04 (2001)
note: since 1 January 1999, the XOF franc has been pegged to the euro at a rate of 655.957 XOF francs 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 Joao Bernardo 'Nino' VIEIRA (since 1 October 2005)
head of government: Prime Minister Aristides GOMES (since 2 November 2005) cabinet: NA elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term (no term limits); election last held 24 July 2005 (next to be held in 2010); prime minister appointed by the president after consultation with party leaders in the legislature election results: Joao Bernardo VIEIRA elected president; percent of vote, second ballot - Joao Bernardo VIEIRA 52.4%, Malan Bacai SANHA 47.6% |
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 | NA bbl/day | NA |
Exports - commodities | cashew nuts, shrimp, peanuts, palm kernels, sawn lumber | minerals, metallurgical products, manufactures (including armaments); textiles and fishery products |
Exports - partners | India 72%, Nigeria 17.1%, Ecuador 4% (2005) | 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 green with a vertical red band on the hoist side; there is a black five-pointed star centered in the red band; uses the popular pan-African colors of Ethiopia | 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 - composition by sector | agriculture: 62%
industry: 12% services: 26% (1999 est.) |
agriculture: 30.2%
industry: 33.8% services: 36% (2002 est.) |
GDP - per capita | - | purchasing power parity - $1,700 (2004 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | 2.3% (2005 est.) | 1% (2004 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 12 00 N, 15 00 W | 40 00 N, 127 00 E |
Geography - note | this small country is swampy along its western coast and low-lying further inland | strategic location bordering China, South Korea, and Russia; mountainous interior is isolated and sparsely populated |
Heliports | - | 19 (2004 est.) |
Highways | - | total: 31,200 km
paved: 1,997 km unpaved: 29,203 km (1999 est.) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: 0.5%
highest 10%: 42.4% (1991) |
lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA |
Illicit drugs | - | 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 | NA bbl/day | 11,500 bbl/day (2003 est.) |
Imports - commodities | foodstuffs, machinery and transport equipment, petroleum products | petroleum, coking coal, machinery and equipment; textiles, grain |
Imports - partners | Italy 25.3%, Senegal 18.6%, Portugal 15.8%, Cote d'Ivoire 4.3% (2005) | China 32.9%, Thailand 10.7%, Japan 4.8% (2004) |
Independence | 24 September 1973 (unilaterally declared by Guinea-Bissau); 10 September 1974 (recognized by Portugal) | 15 August 1945 (from Japan) |
Industrial production growth rate | 4.7% (2003 est.) | NA |
Industries | agricultural products processing, beer, soft drinks | 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 | total: 105.21 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 115.53 deaths/1,000 live births female: 94.57 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 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) | 4% (2002 est.) | NA (2003 est.) |
International organization participation | ACCT, ACP, AfDB, AU, ECOWAS, FAO, FZ, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt (signatory), ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO (correspondent), ITU, MIGA, NAM, OIC, OIF, OPCW (signatory), UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WADB (regional), WAEMU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO | ARF, FAO, G-77, ICAO, ICRM, IFAD, IFRCS, IHO, IMO, IOC, ISO, ITU, NAM, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO |
Irrigated land | 250 sq km (2003) | 14,600 sq km (1998 est.) |
Judicial branch | Supreme Court or Supremo Tribunal da Justica (consists of nine justices appointed by the president and serve at his pleasure; final court of appeals in criminal and civil cases); Regional Courts (one in each of nine regions; first court of appeals for Sectoral Court decisions; hear all felony cases and civil cases valued at over $1,000); 24 Sectoral Courts (judges are not necessarily trained lawyers; they hear civil cases under $1,000 and misdemeanor criminal cases) | Central Court (judges are elected by the Supreme People's Assembly) |
Labor force | 480,000 (1999) | 9.6 million |
Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: 82%
industry and services: 18% (2000 est.) |
agricultural 36%, nonagricultural 64% |
Land boundaries | total: 724 km
border countries: Guinea 386 km, Senegal 338 km |
total: 1,673 km
border countries: China 1,416 km, South Korea 238 km, Russia 19 km |
Land use | arable land: 8.31%
permanent crops: 6.92% other: 84.77% (2005) |
arable land: 20.76%
permanent crops: 2.49% other: 76.75% (2001) |
Languages | Portuguese (official), Crioulo, African languages | Korean |
Legal system | accepts 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 People's Assembly or Assembleia Nacional Popular (100 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve a maximum of four years)
elections: last held 28 March 2004 (next to be held in 2008) election results: percent of vote by party - PAIGC 31.5%, PRS 24.8%, PUSD 16.1%, UE 4.1%, APU 1.3%, 13 other parties 22.2%; seats by party - PAIGC 45, PRS 35, PUSD 17, UE 2, APU 1 |
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: 46.87 years
male: 45.05 years female: 48.75 years (2006 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: 42.4% male: 58.1% female: 27.4% (2003 est.) |
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 Guinea and Senegal | 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: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 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 | - | 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 | People's Revolutionary Armed Force (FARP; includes Army, Navy, and Air Force), paramilitary force | North Korean People's Army: Ground Force, Navy, Air Force; Civil Security Forces (2005) |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | $9.46 million (2005 est.) | $5,217.4 million (FY02) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 3.1% (2005 est.) | NA |
National holiday | Independence Day, 24 September (1973) | Founding of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), 9 September (1948) |
Nationality | noun: Guinean(s)
adjective: Guinean |
noun: Korean(s)
adjective: Korean |
Natural hazards | hot, dry, dusty harmattan haze may reduce visibility during dry season; brush fires | late spring droughts often followed by severe flooding; occasional typhoons during the early fall |
Natural resources | fish, timber, phosphates, bauxite, clay, granite, limestone, unexploited deposits of petroleum | coal, lead, tungsten, zinc, graphite, magnesite, iron ore, copper, gold, pyrites, salt, fluorspar, hydropower |
Net migration rate | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.) | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.) |
Pipelines | - | oil 154 km (2004) |
Political parties and leaders | African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde or PAIGC [Carlos GOMES Junior]; Democratic Social Front or FDS; Electoral Union or UE; Party for Democratic Convergence or PCD [Victor MANDINGA]; Social Renovation Party or PRS [Alberto NAMBEIA]; Union for Change or UM [Jorge MANDINGA, president, Dr. Anne SAAD, secretary general]; United Platform or UP (coalition formed by PCD, FDS, FLING, and RGB-MB); United Popular Alliance or APU; United Social Democratic Party or PUSD [Francisco Jose FADUL] | 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 | 1,442,029 (July 2006 est.) | 22,912,177 (July 2005 est.) |
Population below poverty line | NA% | NA |
Population growth rate | 2.07% (2006 est.) | 0.9% (2005 est.) |
Ports and harbors | - | Ch'ongjin, Haeju, Hungnam (Hamhung), Kimch'aek, Kosong, Najin, Namp'o, Sinuiju, Songnim, Sonbong (formerly Unggi), Ungsang, Wonsan |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 1 (transmitter out of service), FM 4, shortwave 0 (2002) | AM 17 (including 11 stations of Korean Central Broadcasting Station), FM 14, shortwave 14 (2003) |
Railways | - | total: 5,214 km
standard gauge: 5,214 km 1.435-m gauge (3,500 km electrified) (2004) |
Religions | indigenous beliefs 50%, Muslim 45%, Christian 5% | 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 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.92 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.72 male(s)/female total population: 0.94 male(s)/female (2006 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: small system
domestic: combination of microwave radio relay, open-wire lines, radiotelephone, and cellular communications international: country code - 245 |
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 | 10,600 (2003) | 1.1 million (2001) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 67,000 (2005) | NA |
Television broadcast stations | NA (2005) | 4 (includes Korean Central Television, Mansudae Television, Korean Educational and Cultural Network, and Kaesong Television targeting South Korea) (2003) |
Terrain | mostly low coastal plain rising to savanna in east | mostly hills and mountains separated by deep, narrow valleys; coastal plains wide in west, discontinuous in east |
Total fertility rate | 4.86 children born/woman (2006 est.) | 2.15 children born/woman (2005 est.) |
Unemployment rate | NA% | NA (2003) |
Waterways | four largest rivers are navigable for some distance; many inlets and creeks give shallow-water access to much of interior (2006) | 2,250 km
note: most navigable only by small craft (2004) |