 |
| ▲ This image, captured from the website of the U.N. Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (IGME), compares the under-five mortality rate in North Korea, as shown in brown, with that of South Korea in green. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
N Korea-child mortality
N. Korea's under-5 mortality rate rises for 2nd year in 2023 during pandemic
SEOUL, April 8 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's estimated mortality rate for children under age 5 reached 18 per 1,000 live births in 2023, marking two consecutive years of increase during the COVID-19 pandemic, United Nations data showed Tuesday.
The 2023 rate marks an increase from an estimated 17.72 under-five mortality per 1,000 lives in 2022 and 17.44 in 2021, according to the website of the U.N. Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (IGME).
North Korea's under-five mortality rate surged to 107.68 per 1,000 live births in 1995 as the country fell into a severe famine following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
The country had seen significant improvements since 2003, gradually reducing the rate to 17.7 in 2019 and 17.45 in 2020, reaching a low of 17.44 in 2021.
The website did not provide clear reasons for the increases from 2021 to 2023, but they may be related to the country's pandemic-era border controls, which affected inoculation rates among North Korean children.
According to UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), only 41 percent of children in North Korea received the first dose of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP3) vaccine in 2023.
In 2023, the U.N.-estimated infant mortality rate in North Korea reached 14.54 per 1,000 births, while the neonatal mortality rate stood at 9.63.
The same year, the estimated under-five mortality rate in South Korea stood at 2.76 per 1,000 live births.
(END)
(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved
