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.