BIOSOCIAL COMPARISON OF MID-UPPER ARM CIRCUMFERENCE IN THE TWO KOREAS

Biological living standards in North Korea as reflected in famine to post-famine trends in birthweight, 1998-2009

This research investigates the trend in birthweight as an indicator of living conditions in early life inside North Korea, one of the most secluded nations in the world that experienced a great famine in the 1990s. Descriptive analysis based on data taken from officially released national nutrition survey reports suggests that prevalence of low birthweight (= below 2500 g) declined from 9.0% in the famine year of 1998-5.7% in the post-famine period of 2009. Mean birthweight improved from 2800 g in 1998-2940 g in 2002, although more recent surveys await implementation. Based on raw data comprising 2495 newborns measured at birth from 2000 to 2002 from a national nutrition survey conducted in 2002, neither contingency analysis nor error bar analysis showed statistically significant improvements during the observed periods. Regression analysis indicates that there is a significant positive relation between birthweight and birthyear, but the effect is negligibly small (0.0001 g). Raw data analysis of the 2002 survey further revealed that prevalence of low birthweight hovered at around 7% from 2000 to 2002. Overall, this prevalence of low birthweight was closer to the mean percentage for industrialized nations (6%) than that of developing nations (17%), although being expectedly much higher (that is, twice the rate) compared to its "twin" in South Korea (3.5%) at that time. Some technical, biological, and socio-economic biases affecting birthweight measurements in North Korea are discussed in a latter section of this paper.

LONGEVITY IN NORTH KOREA AND SOUTH KOREA: PREVALENCE OF CENTENARIANS IN ONE THE POOREST AND ONE OF THE RICHEST NATIONS

Over recent decades, economic living conditions have dramatically improved in South Korea, which now represents one of the most developed nations. At the same time, its twin in the North remains one of the poorest countries on earth. Thus, the Korean peninsula represents a unique historical experiment that allows for study of the effects of environment on human development under a variety of ceteris paribus cultural, genetic and climatic conditions. Previous studies comparing the biosocial performances of the two Koreas have focused on indicators such as weight, height, mid-upper arm circumference and age at menarche. The purpose of the present study was to investigate longevity based on the number of centenarians living in the two Koreas by drawing on censuses implemented around 1925 and 2010. The study found that North Korea had some 0.7 centenarians per one million persons in 1925, and this rate moderately improved to 2.7 around 2010. Conversely, rates skyrocketed in South Korea from 2.7 in 1925 to 38.2 around 2010. This suggests that the rate of centenarians in North Korea around 2010 corresponds to that of South Korea in 1925, suggesting a chronological lag in delayed human development of some 85 years. The prevalence of centenarians is fourteen times higher in contemporary South Korea compared with the North – broadly confirming previous biosocial studies on the two Koreas and two Germanies reporting improved human development in market-oriented systems compared with socialist ones.