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, Ship Pollution; signed,
but not ratified - Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Law of the Sea,
Ozone Layer Protection
Geographic note: strategic location bordering China, South Korea, and Russia; mountainous interior is isolated, nearly inaccessible, and sparsely populated
People ———
Population: 23,904,124 (July 1996 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 30% (male 3,605,972; female 3,465,038)
15-64 years: 66% (male 7,871,783; female 7,956,935)
65 years and over: 4% (male 355,284; female 649,112) (July 1996 est.)
Population growth rate: 1.74% (1996 est.)
Birth rate: 22.86 births/1,000 population (1996 est.)
Death rate: 5.45 deaths/1,000 population (1996 est.)
Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1996 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.55 male(s)/female
all ages: 0.98 male(s)/female (1996 est.)