Irrigated land: 14,000 sq km (1989)

Environment:
current issues: localized air pollution attributable to inadequate
industrial controls; water pollution; inadequate supplies of potable
water
natural hazards: late spring droughts often followed by severe
flooding; occasional typhoons during the early fall
international agreements: party to - Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity,
Climate Change, Environmental Modification, Ozone Layer Protection,
Ship Pollution; signed, but not ratified - Antarctic-Environmental
Protocol, Law of the Sea

Note: strategic location bordering China, South Korea, and Russia; mountainous interior is isolated, nearly inaccessible, and sparsely populated

@Korea, North:People

Population: 23,486,550 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 30% (female 3,402,672; male 3,540,313)
15-64 years: 66% (female 7,840,465; male 7,741,155)
65 years and over: 4% (female 622,250; male 339,695) (July 1995 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.78% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 23.31 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Death rate: 5.47 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)