— Overview
The notes read an Oxford University Press study of life expectancy in the two Koreas from 1993 to 2008, and keep the figures inside that window rather than as a later official total.
— Contents and key concepts
A study from 1993 to 2008, and a collapse in 1991
The notes read a study issued by Oxford University Press, by Jinwook Bahk, Majid Ezzati and Young-Ho Khang, and supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea. After the unification of West and East Germany, Korea is, in this telling, the only country still divided by political ideology. South and North have, since the Korean War of 1950 to 1953, shared language, culture and ethnicity, but the state of affairs is an armistice — a pause, they write, not an ended war — and both sides spend heavily on the military. Life expectancy was similar until the 1990s; from then the gap began to widen. A decline in the North from 1991 to 1998 coincides with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Poverty there grew worse after that collapse, and reached its worst in the mid-1990s. Southern census data for 1993 to 2008 come from Statistics Korea, based on registered residents. For the North, 1993 figures come from a survey by the UN Population Fund, and 2008 figures from the North’s statistics office, because officially open life-expectancy data were not available. Comparing the two sides, they write, is a chance to weigh political and social factors in a person’s health. Those identifications stay as the notes give them.
From less than a year to eleven, inside the window
They calculate life expectancy by year of birth for women and men on both sides between 1993 and 2008, apply Southern cause-of-death data as a variable, and draw life tables in five-year age bands — under one, one to four, then five-year groups to 74–79, and 80 and over. The gap is the South’s life expectancy minus the North’s: the higher the figure, the wider the difference. In 1993, they write, the gap was 0.68 years for men and 1.24 for women, about a year. By 2003 it was about eleven years for men and about ten for women; by 2008, 11.14 and 9.90. The 1993 difference was very small beside 2008, and the widening is attributed chiefly to a rise in life expectancy in the South. The difference is most marked in infants under one and in adults aged 55 and over. Mid-1990s poverty, they add, is bound up with a high death rate in that period. Those figures stay in the study’s window; they are not recast as a later official total.
Circulatory disease, a military estimate, and a stated limit
For men, circulatory disease, ill-defined causes and digestive disease account for 85.9 percent of the difference in causes of death; for women, ill-defined causes, circulatory disease, infant death, digestive disease and infectious disease account for 91.7 percent. Circulatory disease and ill-defined causes appear high in people aged 50 and over; cancer appears high from age 65; external causes such as injury appear high in children aged one to nine. Death rates among Northern women aged 10 to 39 were very high in the 1990s, and mid-1990s poverty is thought to have harmed infants and pregnant women. Injury deaths among Northern men aged 20 to 24 are estimated as coming from military activity. Disease-related deaths also appear high in the North, from which a shortage of medical services and facilities is inferred.
A limit, they admit, is that disease-related deaths in the North were inferred from Southern data, because corresponding Northern data did not exist. The accuracy of older Southern records is also questioned: in the 1980s, cause-of-death statistics and medical death certificates diverged. German work on population change after division, they add, ran to at most three years, so a comparison of the two Koreas on a ten-year scale is unusual. The study, they conclude, offers a reasoned account by age, sex and cause, and also hints at the importance of international aid once given to the South. Those percentages stay as the notes date them. The same Korean report, at fuller length, is on CampusDown.
Sources
- The notes, a student reading of a life-expectancy study of North and South Korea from 1993 to 2008, by Bahk, Ezzati and Khang, with the gaps and causes left in the window the notes give.
Last updated: 15 November 2026
Frequently asked questions
Whose study is this, in the notes’ telling, and what window do they use?
An Oxford University Press study, they write, by Jinwook Bahk, Majid Ezzati and Young-Ho Khang, supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea. After German unification, Korea is, in this telling, the only country still divided by political ideology; the two sides have shared language, culture and ethnicity since the Korean War of 1950 to 1953, but remain in an armistice, not an ended war, and spend heavily on the military. Life expectancy on the two sides was similar until the 1990s, then the gap began to widen. A decline in the North from 1991 to 1998 coincides with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and poverty there, they write, grew worse after that collapse and reached its worst in the mid-1990s. South Korean figures come from Statistics Korea for 1993 to 2008; the North’s 1993 data come from a UN Population Fund survey, and the 2008 data from the North’s own statistics office, because officially open life-expectancy data for the North were not available. Those sources stay as the notes name them.
What gaps do they report for 1993, 2003 and 2008?
The 1993 gap, they write, was 0.68 years for men and 1.24 for women — about a year, they also say. By 2003 it was about eleven years for men and about ten for women; by 2008, 11.14 years for men and 9.90 for women. The 1993 difference was very small beside 2008, and the widening is attributed chiefly to a rise in life expectancy in the South. The gap is most marked in infants under one and in adults aged 55 and over. Those figures stay in the study’s window; they are not recast as a later official total.
Which causes of death do they highlight, and what limits do they admit?
For men, circulatory disease, ill-defined causes and digestive disease account for 85.9 percent of the difference in causes of death between North and South; for women, ill-defined causes, circulatory disease, infant death, digestive disease and infectious disease account for 91.7 percent. Circulatory disease and ill-defined causes appear high in men and women aged 50 and over; cancer appears high from age 65; external causes such as injury appear high in children aged one to nine. Injury deaths among Northern men aged 20 to 24 are estimated as military. High death rates among Northern women aged 10 to 39 in the 1990s, and harm to infants and pregnant women in the mid-1990s poverty, are also noted. A limit, they admit, is that disease-related deaths in the North were inferred from Southern data, because corresponding Northern data did not exist; and the accuracy of older Southern cause-of-death records is questioned, because 1980s figures diverged from medical death certificates. German studies of population change after division, they add, ran to at most three years, so a decade-scale comparison of the two Koreas is unusual. Those percentages stay as the notes date them.
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