Population: 46,884,800 (July 1999 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 22% (male 5,504,333; female 4,874,974)
15-64 years: 71% (male 16,949,807; female 16,432,951)
65 years and over: 7% (male 1,192,688; female 1,930,047) (1999 est.)

Population growth rate: 1% (1999 est.)

Birth rate: 15.95 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Death rate: 5.68 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.3 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.13 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.13 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.62 male(s)/female
total population: 1.02 male(s)/female (1999 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 7.57 deaths/1,000 live births (1999 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 74.3 years
male: 70.75 years
female: 78.32 years (1999 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.79 children born/woman (1999 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Korean(s)
adjective: Korean

Ethnic groups: homogeneous (except for about 20,000 Chinese)

Religions: Christianity 49%, Buddhism 47%, Confucianism 3%, pervasive folk religion (shamanism), Chondogyo (Religion of the Heavenly Way), and other 1%

Languages: Korean, English widely taught in junior high and high school

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 98%
male: 99.3%
female: 96.7% (1995 est.)