use:
arable land:
21%
permanent crops:
1%
meadows and pastures:
1%
forest and woodland:
67%
other:
10%
Irrigated land:
13,530 km2 (1989)
Environment:
occasional typhoons bring high winds and floods; earthquakes in southwest;
air pollution in large cities
*Korea, South, People
Population:
44,613,993 (July 1993 est.)
Population growth rate:
1.05% (1993 est.)
Birth rate:
15.72 births/1,000 population (1993 est.)
Death rate:
6.16 deaths/1,000 population (1993 est.)
Net migration rate:
0.91 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1993 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
22.5 deaths/1,000 live births (1993 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population:
70.29 years
male:
67.1 years
female:
73.68 years (1993 est.)
Total fertility rate:
1.64 children born/woman (1993 est.)
Nationality:
noun:
Korean(s)
adjective:
Korean
Ethnic divisions:
homogeneous (except for about 20,000 Chinese)
Religions:
Christianity 48.6%, Buddhism 47.4%, Confucianism 3%, pervasive folk religion
(Shamanism), Chondogyo (religion of the heavenly way) 0.2%
Languages:
Korean, English widely taught in high school
Literacy:
age 15 and over can read and write (1990)
total population:
96%
male:
99%
female:
94%
Labor force:
19 million
by occupation:
services and other 52%, mining and manufacturing 27%, agriculture, fishing,
forestry 21% (1991)
*Korea, South, Government
Names:
conventional long form:
Republic of Korea
conventional short form:
South Korea
local long form:
Taehan-min'guk
local short form:
none
Abbreviation:
ROK
Digraph:
KS
Type:
republic
Capital:
Seoul
Administrative divisions:
9 provinces (do, singular and plural) and 6 special cities* (jikhalsi,, singular and plural);
Cheju-do, Cholla-bukto, Cholla-namdo,
Ch'ungch'ong-bukto, Ch'ungch'ong-namdo, Inch'on-jikhalsi*, Kangwon-do,, Kwangju-jikhalsi*,,
Kyonggi-do, Kyongsang-bukto, Kyongsang-namdo,
Pusan-jikhalsi*, Soul-t'ukpyolsi*, Taegu-jikhalsi*, Taejon-jikhalsi*, Independence:
15 August 1948
Constitution:
25 February 1988
Legal system:
combines elements of continental European civil law systems, Anglo-American
law, and Chinese classical thought
National holiday:
Independence Day, 15 August (1948)
Political parties and leaders:
majority party:
Democratic Liberal Party (DLP), KIM Young Sam, president
opposition:
Democratic Party (
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