Korea, North (2007) | Togo (2002) | |
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Administrative divisions | 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) municipalities: Kaesong-si (Kaesong), Najin Sonbong-si (Najin-Sonbong), Namp'o-si (Namp'o), P'yongyang-si (Pyongyang) |
5 regions (regions, singular - region); De La Kara, Des Plateaux, Des Savanes, Centrale, Maritime |
Age structure | 0-14 years: 23.3% (male 2,758,826/female 2,679,093)
15-64 years: 68.1% (male 7,852,282/female 8,024,429) 65 years and over: 8.5% (male 709,599/female 1,277,496) (2007 est.) |
0-14 years: 45.1% (male 1,195,052; female 1,187,014)
15-64 years: 52.4% (male 1,351,345; female 1,420,617) 65 years and over: 2.5% (male 56,270; female 75,203) (2002 est.) |
Agriculture - products | rice, corn, potatoes, soybeans, pulses; cattle, pigs, pork, eggs | coffee, cocoa, cotton, yams, cassava (tapioca), corn, beans, rice, millet, sorghum; livestock; fish |
Airports | 77 (2007) | 9 (2001) |
Airports - with paved runways | total: 36
over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 22 1,524 to 2,437 m: 8 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 3 (2007) |
total: 2
2,438 to 3,047 m: 2 (2002) |
Airports - with unpaved runways | total: 41
2,438 to 3,047 m: 2 1,524 to 2,437 m: 19 914 to 1,523 m: 13 under 914 m: 7 (2007) |
total: 7
914 to 1,523 m: 5 under 914 m: 2 (2002) |
Area | total: 120,540 sq km
land: 120,410 sq km water: 130 sq km |
total: 56,785 sq km
land: 54,385 sq km water: 2,400 sq km |
Area - comparative | slightly smaller than Mississippi | slightly smaller than West Virginia |
Background | An independent kingdom for much of its long history, 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 of Korea (ROK) in the southern portion by force, North Korea (DPRK), under its founder President KIM Il-so'ng, adopted a policy of ostensible diplomatic and economic "self-reliance" as a check against excessive Soviet or Communist Chinese influence. The DPRK demonized the US as the ultimate threat to its social system through state-funded propaganda, and 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 his father's successor in 1980, assuming a growing political and managerial role until the elder KIM's death in 1994. After decades of economic mismanagement and resource misallocation, the DPRK since the mid-1990s has relied heavily on international aid to feed its population while continuing to expend resources to maintain an army of 1 million. North Korea's long-range missile development, as well as its nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons programs and massive conventional armed forces, are of major concern to the international community. In December 2002, following revelations that the DPRK was pursuing a nuclear weapons program based on enriched uranium in violation of a 1994 agreement with the US 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." Beginning in August 2003, North Korea, China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the US have participated in the Six-Party Talks aimed at resolving the stalemate over the DPRK's nuclear programs. North Korea pulled out of the talks in November 2005. It test-fired ballistic missiles in July 2006 and tested a nuclear weapon in October 2006. In October 2006, the DRPK announced that it would return to the Six-Party Talks. The Talks reconvened in December 2006. | French Togoland became Togo in 1960. General Gnassingbe EYADEMA, installed as military ruler in 1967, is Africa's longest-serving head of state. Despite the facade of multiparty elections instituted in the early 1990s, the government continues to be dominated by President EYADEMA, whose Rally of the Togolese People (RPT) party has maintained power almost continually since 1967. In addition, Togo has come under fire from international organizations for human rights abuses and is plagued by political unrest. Most bilateral and multilateral aid to Togo remains frozen. |
Birth rate | 15.06 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) | 36.11 births/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
Budget | revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA |
revenues: $232 million
expenditures: $252 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1997 est.) |
Capital | name: Pyongyang
geographic coordinates: 39 01 N, 125 45 E time difference: UTC+9 (14 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) |
Lome |
Climate | temperate with rainfall concentrated in summer | tropical; hot, humid in south; semiarid in north |
Coastline | 2,495 km | 56 km |
Constitution | adopted 1948; completely revised 27 December 1972, revised again in April 1992, and September 1998 | multiparty draft constitution approved by High Council of the Republic 1 July 1992; adopted by public referendum 27 September 1992 |
Country name | conventional long form: Democratic People's Republic of Korea
conventional short form: North Korea local long form: Choson-minjujuui-inmin-konghwaguk local short form: Choson abbreviation: DPRK |
conventional long form: Togolese Republic
conventional short form: Togo local long form: Republique Togolaise local short form: none former: French Togoland |
Currency | - | Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XOF); note - responsible authority is the Central Bank of the West African States |
Death rate | 7.21 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) | 11.3 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
Debt - external | $12 billion (1996 est.) | $1.5 billion (1999) (1999) |
Diplomatic representation from the US | none; note - Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang represents the US as consular protecting power | chief of mission: Ambassador Karl HOFMANN
embassy: Angle Rue Kouenou and Rue 15 Beniglato, Lome mailing address: B. P. 852, Lome telephone: [228] 221 29 91 through 221 29 94 FAX: [228] 221 79 52 |
Diplomatic representation in the US | none; North Korea has a Permanent Mission to the UN in New York | chief of mission: Ambassador Akoussoulelou BODJONA
chancery: 2208 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 234-4212 FAX: [1] (202) 232-3190 |
Disputes - international | risking arrest, imprisonment, and deportation, tens of thousands of North Koreans cross into China to escape famine, economic privation, and political oppression; North Korea and China dispute the sovereignty of certain islands in Yalu and Tumen rivers; Military Demarcation Line within the 4-km wide Demilitarized Zone has separated North from South Korea since 1953; periodic incidents in the Yellow Sea with South Korea which claims the Northern Limiting Line as a maritime boundary; North Korea supports South Korea in rejecting Japan's claim to Liancourt Rocks (Tok-do/Take-shima) | Benin accuses Togo of moving boundary markers and stationing troops in its territory |
Economic aid - recipient | $NA; note - approximately 350,000 metric tons in food aid, worth approximately $118 million, through the World Food Program appeal in 2004, plus additional aid from bilateral donors and non-governmental organizations (2005) | $201.1 million (1995) (1995) |
Economy - overview | 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 shortages of spare parts. Industrial and power output have declined in parallel. Due in part to severe summer flooding followed by dry weather conditions in the fall of 2006, the nation has suffered its 12th year of food shortages because of on-going systemic problems, including a lack of arable land, collective farming practices, and chronic shortages of tractors and fuel. Massive international food aid deliveries have allowed the people of North Korea to escape mass starvation since famine threatened in 1995, but the population continues to suffer from prolonged malnutrition and poor living conditions. Large-scale military spending eats up resources needed for investment and civilian consumption. In 2004, the regime formalized an arrangement whereby private "farmers' markets" were allowed to begin selling a wider range of goods. It also permitted some private farming on an experimental basis in an effort to boost agricultural output. In October 2005, the regime reversed some of these policies by forbidding private sales of grains and reinstituting a centralized food rationing system. By December 2005, the regime terminated most international humanitarian assistance operations in North Korea (calling instead for developmental assistance only) and restricted the activities of remaining international and non-governmental aid organizations such as the World Food Program. External food aid now comes primarily from China and South Korea in the form of grants and long-term concessional loans. Firm political control remains the Communist government's overriding concern, which will likely inhibit the loosening of economic regulations. | This small sub-Saharan economy is heavily dependent on both commercial and subsistence agriculture, which provides employment for 65% of the labor force. Some basic foodstuffs must still be imported. Cocoa, coffee, and cotton generate about 40% of export earnings, with cotton being the most significant cash crop despite falling prices on the world market. Political unrest, including private and public sector strikes throughout 1992 and 1993, jeopardized the reform program, shrunk the tax base, and disrupted vital economic activity. The 12 January 1994 devaluation of the XOF currency by 50% provided an important impetus to renewed structural adjustment. In the industrial sector, phosphate mining is by far the most important activity. Togo is the world's fourth largest producer, and geological advantages keep production costs low. The recently privatized mining operation, Office Togolais des Phosphates (OTP), is slowly recovering from a steep fall in prices in the early 1990's, but continues to face the challenge of tough foreign competition, exacerbated by weakening demand. Togo serves as a regional commercial and trade center. It continues to expand its duty-free export-processing zone (EPZ), launched in 1989, which has attracted enterprises from France, Italy, Scandinavia, the US, India, and China and created jobs for Togolese nationals. The government's decade-long effort, supported by the World Bank and the IMF, to implement economic reform measures, encourage foreign investment, and bring revenues in line with expenditures has stalled. Progress depends on following through on privatization, increased openness in government financial operations, progress towards legislative elections, and possible downsizing of the military, on which the regime has depended to stay in place. Lack of large-scale foreign aid, deterioration of the financial sector, energy shortages, and depressed commodity prices continue to constrain economic growth. The takeover of the national power company by a Franco-Canadian consortium in 2000 should ease the energy crisis. |
Electricity - consumption | 18.57 billion kWh (2005) | 525.21 million kWh (2000) |
Electricity - exports | 0 kWh (2005) | 0 kWh (2000) |
Electricity - imports | 0 kWh (2005) | 435 million kWh
note: electricity supplied by Ghana (2000) |
Electricity - production | 22.19 billion kWh (2005) | 97 million kWh (2000) |
Electricity - production by source | - | fossil fuel: 98%
hydro: 2% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (2000) |
Elevation extremes | lowest point: Sea of Japan 0 m
highest point: Paektu-san 2,744 m |
lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Mont Agou 986 m |
Environment - current issues | water pollution; inadequate supplies of potable water; waterborne disease; deforestation; soil erosion and degradation | deforestation attributable to slash-and-burn agriculture and the use of wood for fuel; water pollution presents health hazards and hinders the fishing industry; air pollution increasing in urban areas |
Environment - international agreements | party to: Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Environmental Modification, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution
signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea |
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
Ethnic groups | racially homogeneous; there is a small Chinese community and a few ethnic Japanese | native African (37 tribes; largest and most important are Ewe, Mina, and Kabre) 99%, European and Syrian-Lebanese less than 1% |
Exchange rates | official: North Korean won per US dollar - 141 (2006), 170 (December 2004), 150 (December 2002), market: North Korean won per US dollar - 2,500-3,000 (December 2006) | Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 741.79 (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 |
Executive branch | 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
head of government: Premier KIM Yong Il (since 11 April 2007); Vice Premiers KWAK Pom Gi (since 5 September 1998), JON Sung Hun (since 3 September 2003), RO Tu Chol (since 3 September 2003), THAE Jong Su (since 16 October 2007) cabinet: Naegak (cabinet) members, except for Minister of People's Armed Forces, are appointed by SPA elections: 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 |
chief of state: President Gen. Gnassingbe EYADEMA (since 14 April 1967)
head of government: Prime Minister Koffi SAMA (since 29 June 2002) cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president and the prime minister elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; election last held 21 June 1998 (next to be held June 2003); prime minister appointed by the president election results: Gnassingbe EYADEMA reelected president; percent of vote - Gnassingbe EYADEMA 52.13%, Gilchrist OLYMPIO 34.12%, other 13.75% |
Exports | NA bbl/day | $306 million f.o.b. (2001) |
Exports - commodities | minerals, metallurgical products, manufactures (including armaments), textiles, agricultural and fishery products | cotton, phosphates, coffee, cocoa |
Exports - partners | China 35%, South Korea 24%, Thailand 9%, Japan 9% (2005) | Benin 12%, Nigeria 9%, Belgium 5%, Ghana 4% (2000) |
Fiscal year | calendar year | calendar year |
Flag description | 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 | five equal horizontal bands of green (top and bottom) alternating with yellow; there is a white five-pointed star on a red square in the upper hoist-side corner; uses the popular pan-African colors of Ethiopia |
GDP | - | purchasing power parity - $7.6 billion (2001 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 30%
industry: 34% services: 36% (2002 est.) |
agriculture: 42%
industry: 21% services: 37% (2001 est.) |
GDP - per capita | - | purchasing power parity - $1,500 (2001 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate | 1.6% (2006 est.) | 2.2% (2001 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 40 00 N, 127 00 E | 8 00 N, 1 10 E |
Geography - note | strategic location bordering China, South Korea, and Russia; mountainous interior is isolated and sparsely populated | the country's length allows it to stretch through six distinct geographic regions; climate varies from tropical to savanna |
Heliports | 23 (2007) | - |
Highways | - | total: 7,520 km
paved: 2,376 km unpaved: 5,144 km (1996) |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA% |
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA% |
Illicit drugs | for years, from the 1970s into the 2000s, 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; police investigations in Taiwan and Japan in recent years 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 | transit hub for Nigerian heroin and cocaine traffickers; money laundering not a significant problem |
Imports | 23,520 bbl/day (2004 est.) | $420 million f.o.b. (2001) |
Imports - commodities | petroleum, coking coal, machinery and equipment, textiles, grain | machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, petroleum products |
Imports - partners | China 42%, South Korea 28%, Russia 9%, Thailand 8% (2005) | Ghana 26%, France 11%, China 7%, Cote d'Ivoire 7% (2000) |
Independence | 15 August 1945 (from Japan) | 27 April 1960 (from French-administered UN trusteeship) |
Industrial production growth rate | NA% | NA% |
Industries | military products; machine building, electric power, chemicals; mining (coal, iron ore, limestone, magnesite, graphite, copper, zinc, lead, and precious metals), metallurgy; textiles, food processing; tourism | phosphate mining, agricultural processing, cement; handicrafts, textiles, beverages |
Infant mortality rate | total: 22.56 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 24.2 deaths/1,000 live births female: 20.84 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) |
69.32 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | NA% | 2.3% (2001 est.) |
International organization participation | ARF, FAO, G-77, ICAO, ICRM, IFAD, IFRCS, IHO, IMO, IOC, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, NAM, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO | ACCT, ACP, AfDB, CCC, ECA, ECOWAS, Entente, FAO, FZ, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, ITU, MIPONUH, NAM, OAU, OIC, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WADB (regional), WAEMU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | - | 3 (2001) |
Irrigated land | 14,600 sq km (2003) | 70 sq km (1998 est.) |
Judicial branch | Central Court (judges are elected by the Supreme People's Assembly) | Court of Appeal or Cour d'Appel; Supreme Court or Cour Supreme |
Labor force | 9.6 million (2002 est.) | 1.74 million (1996) (1996) |
Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: 36%
industry and services: 64% (2002) |
agriculture 65%, industry 5%, services 30% (1998 est.) |
Land boundaries | total: 1,673 km
border countries: China 1,416 km, South Korea 238 km, Russia 19 km |
total: 1,647 km
border countries: Benin 644 km, Burkina Faso 126 km, Ghana 877 km |
Land use | arable land: 22.4%
permanent crops: 1.66% other: 75.94% (2005) |
arable land: 41.37%
permanent crops: 1.84% other: 56.79% (1998 est.) |
Languages | Korean | French (official and the language of commerce), Ewe and Mina (the two major African languages in the south), Kabye (sometimes spelled Kabiye) and Dagomba (the two major African languages in the north) |
Legal system | 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 | French-based court system |
Legislative branch | 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 |
unicameral National Assembly (81 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
elections: last held 27 October 2002 (next NA 2006) election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - RPT 72, RSD 3, UDPS 2, Juvento 2, MOCEP 1, independents 1 note: two opposition parties boycotted the election, the Union of the Forces for Change, and the Action Committee for Renewal |
Life expectancy at birth | total population: 71.92 years
male: 69.18 years female: 74.8 years (2007 est.) |
total population: 54.02 years
male: 52.03 years female: 56.07 years (2002 est.) |
Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99% male: 99% female: 99% |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 51.7% male: 67% female: 37% (1995 est.) |
Location | Eastern Asia, northern half of the Korean Peninsula bordering the Korea Bay and the Sea of Japan, between China and South Korea | Western Africa, bordering the Bight of Benin, between Benin and Ghana |
Map references | Asia | Africa |
Maritime claims | 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 |
exclusive economic zone: 200 NM
territorial sea: 30 NM |
Merchant marine | total: 171 ships (1000 GRT or over) 854,268 GRT/1,225,453 DWT
by type: bulk carrier 12, cargo 131, chemical tanker 1, container 1, livestock carrier 1, passenger/cargo 4, petroleum tanker 14, refrigerated cargo 4, roll on/roll off 3 foreign-owned: 29 (Egypt 1, India 1, Israel 1, Lebanon 3, Lithuania 1, Pakistan 1, Romania 6, Russia 1, Syria 7, Turkey 1, UAE 4, Yemen 2) registered in other countries: (unknown 1) (2007) |
total: 1 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 2,603 GRT/2,800 DWT
ships by type: specialized tanker 1 note: includes a foreign-owned ship registered here as a flag of convenience: Greece 1 (2002 est.) |
Military branches | North Korean People's Army: Ground Forces, Navy, Air Force; civil security forces (2005) | Army, Navy, Air Force, Gendarmerie |
Military expenditures - dollar figure | - | $21.9 million (FY01) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | NA | 1.8% (FY01) |
Military manpower - availability | - | males age 15-49: 1,220,758 (2002 est.) |
Military manpower - fit for military service | - | males age 15-49: 640,280 (2002 est.) |
National holiday | Founding of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), 9 September (1948) | Independence Day, 27 April (1960) |
Nationality | noun: Korean(s)
adjective: Korean |
noun: Togolese (singular and plural)
adjective: Togolese |
Natural hazards | late spring droughts often followed by severe flooding; occasional typhoons during the early fall | hot, dry harmattan wind can reduce visibility in north during winter; periodic droughts |
Natural resources | coal, lead, tungsten, zinc, graphite, magnesite, iron ore, copper, gold, pyrites, salt, fluorspar, hydropower | phosphates, limestone, marble, arable land |
Net migration rate | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.) | 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
Pipelines | oil 154 km (2006) | - |
Political parties and leaders | major party - Korean Workers' Party or KWP [KIM Jong Il]; minor parties - Chondoist Chongu Party [RYU Mi Yong] (under KWP control), Social Democratic Party [KIM Yong Dae] (under KWP control) | Action Committee for Renewal or CAR [Yawovi AGBOYIBO]; Coordination des Forces Nouvelles or CFN [Joseph KOFFIGOH]; Democratic Convention of African Peoples or CDPA [Leopold GNININVI]; Party for Democracy and Renewal or PDR [Zarifou AYEVA]; Patriotic Pan-African Convergence or CPP [Edem KODJO]; Rally of the Togolese People or RPT [President Gen. Gnassingbe EYADEMA]; Union of Forces for Change or UFC [Gilchrist OLYMPIO (in exile), Jean Pierre FABRE, general secretary in Togo]; Union of Independent Liberals or ULI [Jacques AMOUZOU]
note: Rally of the Togolese People or RPT, led by President EYADEMA, was the only party until the formation of multiple parties was legalized 12 April 1991 |
Political pressure groups and leaders | none | NA |
Population | 23,301,725 (July 2007 est.) | 5,285,501
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.) |
Population below poverty line | NA% | 32% (1989 est.) |
Population growth rate | 0.785% (2007 est.) | 2.48% (2002 est.) |
Ports and harbors | - | Kpeme, Lome |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 17 (including 11 stations of Korean Central Broadcasting Station; North Korea has a "national intercom" cable radio station wired throughout the country that is a significant source of information for the average North Korean citizen; it is wired into most residences and workplaces and carries news and commentary), FM 14, shortwave 14 (2006) | AM 2, FM 9, shortwave 4 (1998) |
Radios | - | 940,000 (1997) |
Railways | total: 5,214 km
standard gauge: 5,214 km 1.435-m gauge (3,500 km electrified) (2006) |
total: 525 km
narrow gauge: 525 km 1.000-m gauge (2001) |
Religions | 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 |
indigenous beliefs 51%, Christian 29%, Muslim 20% |
Sex ratio | at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.03 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.979 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.555 male(s)/female total population: 0.945 male(s)/female (2007 est.) |
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.75 male(s)/female total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2002 est.) |
Suffrage | 17 years of age; universal | NA years of age; universal adult |
Telephone system | 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 |
general assessment: fair system based on a network of microwave radio relay routes supplemented by open-wire lines and a mobile cellular system
domestic: microwave radio relay and open-wire lines for conventional system; cellular system has capacity of 10,000 telephones international: satellite earth stations - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) and 1 Symphonie |
Telephones - main lines in use | 980,000 (2003) | 25,000 (1997) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | - | 2,995 (1997) |
Television broadcast stations | 4 (includes Korean Central Television, Mansudae Television, Korean Educational and Cultural Network, and Kaesong Television targeting South Korea) (2003) | 3 (plus two repeaters) (1997) |
Terrain | mostly hills and mountains separated by deep, narrow valleys; coastal plains wide in west, discontinuous in east | gently rolling savanna in north; central hills; southern plateau; low coastal plain with extensive lagoons and marshes |
Total fertility rate | 2.05 children born/woman (2007 est.) | 5.14 children born/woman (2002 est.) |
Unemployment rate | NA% | NA% |
Waterways | 2,250 km (most navigable only by small craft) (2007) | 50 km (Mono river) |