The biological standard of living in the two Koreas

Height data of North Korean escapees are analyzed to assess changes in their biological standard of living. In contrast to the population of South Korea, as well as to that of most of the rest of the world, North Koreans did not experience an increase in physical stature during the second half of the 20th century. The divergence between the height of North- and South-Koreans began among the birth cohorts of the late 1940s and became increasingly pronounced thereafter. This is an indication of the adverse socio-economic circumstances prevailing in the northern part of the Korean peninsula.