Half of North Korean Residents Engage in 'Market Economy' Activities

Private Sector Workers Account for 48%... Clear Market Economization
7 out of 10 Say "Can Buy and Sell at Market Stalls"
'Three Meals a Day', from 32% Before 2000 to 90%

North Korean residents working in the field.

As analyses continue to show that the functions and roles of markets in North Korea are increasingly expanding, recent survey results reveal that 1 in 2 North Korean residents are engaged in market economy activities.

According to the results of the "Study on the Economic and Social Conditions of North Korea," conducted by the North Korea Research Association and Hyundai Research Institute Co., Ltd. targeting defectors who entered South Korea up to the first half of last year, the proportion of North Korea's "private economy participants" has recently reached 48%.

The survey, conducted at the request of the Ministry of Unification, found that since 2001, the proportion of "full-time private economy workers (those earning income solely through private economic activities outside official workplaces)" and "dual workers in state and private economies (those earning income from both official workplaces and private economic activities)" has steadily increased.

The proportion of "private economy participants" first surpassed that of "state economy participants" at 34.1% versus 28.5% during 2006?2010, and expanded to 48% by 2016?2019. During the same period, the proportion of "state economy participants" shrank to 24%. State economy participants refer to those earning income solely through economic activities in the state sector (including cooperative farms), i.e., official workplaces.

In particular, those with experience as stall vendors in "comprehensive markets" responded that the size of North Korea's markets has "grown significantly compared to 10 years before defection" (25.8%) and "grown somewhat" (30.1%), indicating an overall expansion of market size in North Korea.

Additionally, the tendency to view market stalls as tradeable assets became more pronounced. While it was around 48.7% in 2000, it rose to 67.6% by 2016?2019.

Residents' dietary habits also changed. The response rate for eating three meals a day was only 32.1% before 2000, but it reached 90.7% around 2016?2019.

The composition ratio of staple foods shifted from corn to rice. From 2001 to 2005, corn accounted for 70.9%, but after 2006, it dropped to 24.9%. Conversely, the proportion of rice, which was only 11% before 2000, increased significantly to 66.1%.

The ownership rate of information devices was highest for TVs at 70.8%, followed by recording devices at 48.7%, landline phones at 21.7%, MP3 players at 16.8%, and radios at 16.6%. Ownership rates for mobile phones and computers were only 14.3% and 8.8%, respectively.

The usage rate of mobile phones was very low at 0.5% before 2000 but rose sharply to 41% during 2016?2019.

The primary purposes for mobile phone calls were personal business (41.5%) and checking on others' well-being (32.6%), while information exchange (8.6%) and official work (3.8%) were relatively low.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.