North Korea, year by year

Every index this site holds for North Korea, in time order: 8 series across 1990–2025, each value as its source published it. The profile shows the latest snapshot; this is the record behind it.

Twenty years here

The world report

Life expectancy at birth: 73.7 years2024at birthUp 4.6 years from 69.2 years in 2005
Urban population: 64%2025of people in towns and citiesUp 4 points from 60% in 2006
Births per woman: 1.782024births per womanDown 0.09 from 1.87 in 2005
Renewable share of energy: 15%2021of energy usedUp 5 points from 9% in 2004
Access to electricity: 61%2024of people with electricityUp 35 points from 26% in 2009
Infant mortality: 132024deaths before age one, per 1,000 birthsDown 13 from 26 in 2005
CO2 emissions per person: 2.5 t2024of CO2 per person a yearDown 0.8 t from 3.3 t in 2005
Forest area: 50%2023of land under forestDown 3 points from 53% in 2004

World Bank, from the first to the last observed year of each indicator; each has its own window.

All indexes, 1990–2025

36 years · 8 series · 7 values marked for checking

Year	Life expectancy at birthyears	Urban population% of people	Births per womanbirths	Renewable share of energy% of energy	Access to electricity% of people	Infant mortalityper 1,000 births	CO2 emissions per persont/year	Forest area% of land
1990	70.5	—	2.39	7.2	—	32	6.3	57.4
1991	70.7	58.6	2.35	7.5	—	33	5.9	57.0
1992	71.0	58.8	2.29	7.7	—	33	5.2	56.6
1993	70.8	58.9	2.22	8.0	—	33	4.7	56.3
1994	70.5	59.0	2.18	9.0	—	33	4.3	55.9
1995	60.8	59.1	2.15	9.6	—	64	3.9	55.5
1996	60.8	59.1	2.09	10.2	—	63	3.5	55.1
1997	60.9	59.2	2.03	9.6	—	62	3.3	54.8
1998	60.9	59.3	1.99	9.9	—	61	2.7	54.4
1999	60.9	59.4	1.97	9.4	—	60	2.9	54.0
2000	60.9	59.4	1.94	8.7	—	59	3.1	53.6
2001	60.9	59.5	1.94	8.6	—	59	3.2	53.4
2002	60.9	59.5	1.92	9.0	—	58	3.1	53.3
2003	69.4	59.6	1.91	9.3	—	27	3.1	53.1
2004	69.3	59.7	1.90	9.4	—	27	3.2	52.9
2005	69.2	59.8	1.87	9.2	—	26	3.3	52.7
2006	69.1	59.8	1.94	9.0	—	26	3.3	52.5
2007	69.0	59.9	1.94	10.9	—	26	2.8	52.4
2008	69.3	60.0	1.97	10.2	—	25	3.0	52.2
2009	69.7	60.1	1.91	10.4	26	24	2.9	52.0
2010	70.3	60.3	1.89	11.0	29	23	2.8	51.8
2011	70.8	60.5	1.88	14.8	31	22	2.0	51.7
2012	71.3	60.7	1.88	15.4	34	21	1.9	51.5
2013	71.9	60.9	1.88	20.8	36	19	1.5	51.3
2014	72.5	61.1	1.87	18.5	38	18	1.6	51.1
2015	72.8	61.3	1.86	22.6	40	17	1.3	51.0
2016	73.0	61.6	1.86	24.0	42	17	1.4	50.8
2017	73.0	61.8	1.85	10.2	44	15	2.9	50.6
2018	73.0	62.1	1.83	11.9	46	15	2.6	50.4
2019	72.9	62.4	1.83	10.0	48	14	2.8	50.3
2020	72.8	62.6	1.82	11.2	51	14	2.6	50.1
2021	73.4	62.9	1.81	14.7	53	14	2.2	49.9
2022	73.6	63.2	1.80	—	55	14	2.3	49.7
2023	73.6	63.5	1.78	—	58	15	2.5	49.5
2024	73.7	63.9	1.78	—	61	13	2.5	—
2025	—	64.2	—	—	—	—	—	—
On the profile	73.7	64.2	1.78	14.7	—	—	2.5	49.6

Sources: Life expectancy at birth: World Bank SP.DYN.LE00.IN; Urban population: World Bank SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS; Births per woman: World Bank SP.DYN.TFRT.IN; Renewable share of energy: World Bank EG.FEC.RNEW.ZS; Access to electricity: World Bank EG.ELC.ACCS.ZS; Infant mortality: World Bank SP.DYN.IMRT.IN; CO2 emissions per person: World Bank EN.GHG.CO2.PC.CE.AR5; Forest area: World Bank AG.LND.FRST.ZS. Profile snapshot from the site dataset regenerated 2026-10-04. Observed years only.

A dotted value moved sharply against the previous observed value in its series, which is the usual signature of a series break or a source revision; it is a prompt to check, not a judgement. The last row, On the profile, is the figure the country profile shows today, set under its series so the two can be checked against each other. ≠ marks a difference of more than 2%: none on this page.

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