1993 North Korean census

The 1993 North Korean census was a census conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics of North Korea on 31 December 1993. It was the first census held in North Korea since the founding of the country in 1949, for which Beijing provided technical assistance to Pyongyang.

The population of the country, according to this census, was 21,213,478, with a predominantly urban population, with the highest population density in the western and southwestern regions of Pyongyang, Nampo, South Hwanghae Province, and North Pyongan Province. The life expectancy at birth was of 70.7 years (67.8 for males and 73.9 for females). In addition, more than 11.8 million people in the country were in the labour force, an estimated 56% of the total population, and 691,027 were in the military, or 3.3% of the total population.

Inconsistencies
The census was inconsistent internally and in comparison to previous censuses. According to the American political economist,Nicholas Eberstadt: "Quotation marks should attend the '1993' census because that enumeration was not actually conducted in 1993, but rather in early 1994, with respondents replying to questions about their circumstances as of year-end 1993; needless to say, such a procedure is highly unorthodox."