Population: 47,470,969 (July 2000 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 22% (male 5,471,520; female 4,867,688)
15-64 years: 71% (male 17,155,401; female 16,662,227)
65 years and over: 7% (male 1,274,943; female 2,039,190) (2000 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.93% (2000 est.)

Birth rate: 15.12 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Death rate: 5.85 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.13 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.12 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.63 male(s)/female
total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2000 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 7.85 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 74.43 years
male: 70.75 years
female: 78.54 years (2000 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.72 children born/woman (2000 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Korean(s)
adjective: Korean

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

Religions: Christian 49%, Buddhist 47%, Confucianist 3%, Shamanist, 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.)