Population and internal migration in North Korea since 2000

Abstract

The population and internal migration of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea were studied based on the data from the country’s latest census conducted in 2008. The population exhibited some features and patterns that are more similar to a developed than a developing economy: a high proportion of the population was urban (over 60 percent); there was nearly 100 percent school attendance and an extremely high adult literacy; fertility was at the replacement level; and there was a low dependency ratio. However, its severe lack of labor mobility is reflected by its extremely low intercounty migration rate and peculiar double minor peaks in place of a usual major labor force peak in the migration schedule. The mobility depression is largely due to the government’s strict control on migration through its household registration system, hoju, especially those to Pyongyang. Unlike that in many developing countries, interprovincial migration has little impact on urbanization but results in a relatively large gain in population for Pyongyang at the expense of a loss in a majority of other provinces. This reflects both the wide gap in development between Pyongyang and the rest of the country as well as the hoju privileges given to the residents of the capital city. Limited market reforms since 2002, such as the opening of Special Economic Zones (SEZs), were evident in the movements to Kangwon and other small provinces containing an SEZ.