--- title: "North Korea data and charts: open, dated, updated weekly | Save North Korea" description: "Free charts and downloadable datasets on North Korea: life expectancy, income, food, market prices, the won exchange rate, defectors, missiles, sanctions and aid. Every series has its source and date." url: "https://savenorthkorea.org/data" language: en translations: en: https://savenorthkorea.org/data ko: https://savenorthkorea.org/ko/data ja: https://savenorthkorea.org/ja/data zh-Hans: https://savenorthkorea.org/zh/data --- Open data # Charts and data on North Korea Every chart on this site, with the data behind it. Where a good source already exists (UN, World Bank, Our World in Data) we pull from it. Where the numbers are stuck in PDFs, spreadsheets or news articles, we pull them out and keep a clean copy here. All of it rebuilds every week on GitHub. [Start here **North Korea vs South Korea** Same people, split in 1945\. Income, life expectancy, food, electricity, height and freedom, side by side. ](https://savenorthkorea.org/north-korea-vs-south-korea) **28** datasets **Oct 12** last rebuilt Each chart also shows its own date **weekly** refreshed by a GitHub Action ## Inside North Korea today [**Price of one US dollar in North Korean markets** Market exchange rate in won, not the official rate. Surveyed about every two weeks. **71,200won per US$** _Pyongyang · Oct 2026_ ](https://savenorthkorea.org/data/won-per-dollar) Daily NK market price survey [ CSV](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/main/data/series/csv/won-per-dollar.csv) [**Price of rice in North Korean markets** Won per kilogram of rice. Surveyed about every two weeks. **43,500won per kg** _Pyongyang · Oct 2026_ ](https://savenorthkorea.org/data/rice-price) Daily NK market price survey [ CSV](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/main/data/series/csv/rice-price.csv) [**North Koreans reaching South Korea** People who escaped and arrived in South Korea each year, by sex. **224people** _2025_ ](https://savenorthkorea.org/data/defector-arrivals) Ministry of Unification (South Korea), 북한이탈주민 주요 현황 [ CSV](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/main/data/series/csv/defector-arrivals.csv) [**Humanitarian funding for North Korea** Aid money reported to the UN each year, in millions of US dollars. **2.14US$ million** _2026_ ](https://savenorthkorea.org/data/humanitarian-aid) UN OCHA Financial Tracking Service [ CSV](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/main/data/series/csv/humanitarian-aid.csv) ## Health and food [**This season’s fields** Greenness of North Korea’s cropland every 16 days this year, against the average of the 10 years before. **0.67NDVI** _This year · Sep 2026_ ](https://savenorthkorea.org/data/crop-greenness-season) MODIS/Terra Vegetation Indices 16-Day L3 Global 250m (MOD13Q1 v6.1), NASA LP DAAC, over MODIS cropland, in Google Earth Engine [ CSV](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/main/data/series/csv/crop-greenness-season.csv) [**How green the fields are** Greenness of North Korea’s cropland from May to September each year, seen from space. Drought and flood years show as dips. **0.68NDVI** _North Korea · 2026_ ](https://savenorthkorea.org/data/crop-greenness) MODIS/Terra Vegetation Indices 16-Day L3 Global 250m (MOD13Q1 v6.1), NASA LP DAAC, over MODIS cropland, in Google Earth Engine [ CSV](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/main/data/series/csv/crop-greenness.csv) [**Life expectancy** How many years a baby born that year would live on average. **73.6years** _North Korea · 2023_ ](https://savenorthkorea.org/data/life-expectancy) Riley (2005); Zijdeman et al. (2015); HMD (2025); UN WPP (2024) [ CSV](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/main/data/series/csv/life-expectancy.csv) [**Children who die before age five** Share of newborns who do not reach their fifth birthday. **1.67%** _North Korea · 2024_ ](https://savenorthkorea.org/data/child-mortality) United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (2025) [ CSV](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/main/data/series/csv/child-mortality.csv) [**Food per person per day** Calories available per person per day. Around 2,100 kcal is the usual minimum. **1,981kcal** _North Korea · 2018_ ](https://savenorthkorea.org/data/calories) Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) and other sources [ CSV](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/main/data/series/csv/calories.csv) [**Undernourished people** Share of people who regularly do not get enough calories. **47%** _North Korea · 2018_ ](https://savenorthkorea.org/data/undernourishment) Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) [ CSV](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/main/data/series/csv/undernourishment.csv) [**Average height of men** Adult height by the year they were born. **172cm** _North Korea · 1996_ ](https://savenorthkorea.org/data/height-men) NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (2016) [ CSV](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/main/data/series/csv/height-men.csv) [**Average height of women** Adult height by the year they were born. **159cm** _North Korea · 1996_ ](https://savenorthkorea.org/data/height-women) NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (2016) [ CSV](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/main/data/series/csv/height-women.csv) [**Cereal yield** Tonnes of grain harvested per hectare of farmland. **3.61tonnes per hectare** _North Korea · 2024_ ](https://savenorthkorea.org/data/cereal-yield) Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) [ CSV](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/main/data/series/csv/cereal-yield.csv) ## Money and energy [**GDP per person** Average yearly income per person, adjusted for prices and inflation (2011 international dollars). **1,569international $ (2011 prices)** _North Korea · 2022_ ](https://savenorthkorea.org/data/gdp-per-capita) Bolt and van Zanden – Maddison Project Database 2023 [ CSV](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/main/data/series/csv/gdp-per-capita.csv) [**North Korea at night** Total light seen from space each year. It doubled from 2022 to 2025, while Seoul and rural South Korea stayed level in the same data. **53,368sum of lights** _2025_ ](https://savenorthkorea.org/data/night-lights) Annual VIIRS Night-time Lights (VNL V2.1 2013-2021, V2.2 from 2022), Earth Observation Group, Payne Institute, Colorado School of Mines, summed per county in Google Earth Engine [ CSV](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/main/data/series/csv/night-lights.csv) [**Electricity per person** Electricity generated in a year, divided by the population. **1,023kWh** _North Korea · 2024_ ](https://savenorthkorea.org/data/electricity-per-person) Ember (2026) and other sources [ CSV](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/main/data/series/csv/electricity-per-person.csv) [**Energy use per person** All energy used in a year (power, heat, transport), divided by the population. **7,301kWh** _North Korea · 2024_ ](https://savenorthkorea.org/data/energy-per-person) Energy Institute – Statistical Review of World Energy (2026) and other sources [ CSV](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/main/data/series/csv/energy-per-person.csv) [**Access to electricity** Share of people who have electricity at home. **61.4%** _North Korea · 2024_ ](https://savenorthkorea.org/data/electricity-access) Data compiled from multiple sources by the World Bank [ CSV](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/main/data/series/csv/electricity-access.csv) [**CO₂ emissions per person** Tonnes of carbon dioxide from fuel and industry, per person. A rough measure of how much industry runs. **2.36tonnes** _North Korea · 2024_ ](https://savenorthkorea.org/data/co2-per-person) Global Carbon Budget (2025); Population based on various sources (2024) [ CSV](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/main/data/series/csv/co2-per-person.csv) [**Mobile phone subscriptions** Subscriptions per 100 people. Above 100 means some people have more than one. **24.1per 100 people** _North Korea · 2022_ ](https://savenorthkorea.org/data/mobile-phones) International Telecommunication Union (ITU), via World Bank (2026) [ CSV](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/main/data/series/csv/mobile-phones.csv) ## People [**Population** People living in the country. **26,418,196people** _North Korea · 2023_ ](https://savenorthkorea.org/data/population) HYDE (2023); Gapminder (2022); UN WPP (2024) [ CSV](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/main/data/series/csv/population.csv) [**Children per woman** Average number of children a woman has over her life, at that year’s rates. **1.78births per woman** _North Korea · 2023_ ](https://savenorthkorea.org/data/fertility) UN, World Population Prospects (2024) [ CSV](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/main/data/series/csv/fertility.csv) ## Freedom and weapons [**Democracy score** V-Dem electoral democracy index: 0 is none, 1 is full. Free elections, free press, right to organise. **0.08index, 0 to 1** _North Korea · 2025_ ](https://savenorthkorea.org/data/democracy) V-Dem (2026) [ CSV](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/main/data/series/csv/democracy.csv) [**Civil liberties score** V-Dem index: 0 is none, 1 is full. Freedom from state violence, free speech, freedom of movement and religion. **0.02index, 0 to 1** _North Korea · 2025_ ](https://savenorthkorea.org/data/civil-liberties) V-Dem (2026) [ CSV](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/main/data/series/csv/civil-liberties.csv) [**Missiles launched each year** Every missile counts once, so a salvo of four is four. **46missiles** _2026_ ](https://savenorthkorea.org/data/missile-launches) CNS North Korea Missile Test Database, via nagix/nk-missile-tests [ CSV](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/main/data/series/csv/missile-launches.csv) [**Nuclear warheads** Estimated warheads in North Korea’s stockpile. Nobody outside knows the exact number. **60warheads** _North Korea · 2026_ ](https://savenorthkorea.org/data/nuclear-warheads) Federation of American Scientists (2026) [ CSV](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/main/data/series/csv/nuclear-warheads.csv) [**Soldiers** Active armed forces personnel. **1,469,000people** _North Korea · 2020_ ](https://savenorthkorea.org/data/armed-forces) The Military Balance - International Institute for Strategic Studies, via World Bank (2026) [ CSV](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/main/data/series/csv/armed-forces.csv) [**New names on the UN sanctions list** People and organisations added to the UN Security Council’s North Korea list each year. **0listings** _2026_ ](https://savenorthkorea.org/data/un-sanctions-listings) UN Security Council 1718 Committee consolidated list [ CSV](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/main/data/series/csv/un-sanctions-listings.csv) ## Data we keep ourselves Nobody else publishes these as clean data: market prices from Daily NK’s survey (2009 to now, from a spreadsheet behind their site), defector arrivals from the Ministry of Unification’s PDF, yearly missile counts from the CNS database, and UN sanctions listings by year. ## License Our code and processing are Apache-2.0\. Each dataset keeps its original license (shown next to the source). Please credit the original source first, and us if our cleanup saved you time. [ All data on GitHub](https://github.com/Ahmet-Dedeler/free-north-korea/tree/main/data/series)