Infant mortality rate: 23 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)
Life expectancy at birth: 66 years male, 73 years female (1990)
Total fertility rate: 1.6 children born/woman (1990)
Nationality: noun—Korean(s); adjective—Korean
Ethnic divisions: homogeneous; small Chinese minority (about 20,000)
Religion: strong Confucian tradition; vigorous Christian minority (28% of the total population); Buddhism; pervasive folk religion (Shamanism); Chondokyo (religion of the heavenly way), eclectic religion with nationalist overtones founded in 19th century, claims about 1.5 million adherents
Language: Korean; English widely taught in high school
Literacy: over 90%
Labor force: 16,900,000; 52% services and other; 27% mining and manufacturing; 21% agriculture, fishing, forestry (1987)
Organized labor: about 10% of nonagricultural labor force in government-sanctioned unions