G-Econ
North Korea - Description of Methodology
1. Political Boundaries:
The Korean Peninsula, located in Northeast Asia between latitudes 33 degree and 43 degree north, and longitudes 124 degree and 131 degree east. The peninsula has been divided in two since 1945; the Republic of Korea (capitalist), commonly called South Korea, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (communist), or North Korea. The Peninsula is bordered on the north by China and Russia and juts toward Japan to the southeast. The total land area of North Korea is about 120,540 square kilometers
The North Korea is divided into 10 provinces and 4 special regions/cities.
2. Data Sources:
Population:
Population of provinces, cities, urban areas, and land area of provinces were obtained from internet using the sites geohives.com, mongabay.com, altapedia.com, library.uu.n/populstat and “Country Profile: South Korea, North Korea, 1997-98,” published by the Economist Intelligence Unit, London, UK. The population data was rescaled to fit 1990 population. Urban, rural population for each province and special region was computed using urban, rural percent of population in each area for further calculations.
RIG’s:
The file north_korea_provinces containing information regarding longitude, latitude, RIG’s, ZPop, and Grid Area was obtained from the g-econ server. Arc View program was used to compute province/region (administrative unit) level RIG’s for the present analysis. Arc View program shows 10 provinces and four special regions. RIG’s for the provinces and regions calculated through Arc View and obtained from the g-econ server were found to be comparable.
GDP:
GDP data for North Korea in local currency was not available. Therefore GDP data for different sectors of the North Korean economy was obtained from the “Country Profile: South Korea, North Korea, 1997-98,” published by the Economist Intelligence Unit, London, UK. The GDP data was further aggregated into two sectors namely agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. The GDP of agricultural and non-agricultural sector was divided by the respective working population to compute per capita GDP. This figure was used for the calculation of the total output for the provinces and special regions.
3. Methodology:
“Rural, Urban population and labor force” methodology:
Following data was obtained before further analysis;
a) Total population of the country during 1990,
b) Economically active population of the country during 1990.
The basic methodology is as follows: We have regional data on population, the production of large enterprises, and on labor force status. We combine these with national data on the distribution of total GDP between agriculture and non-agriculture and used following steps for further analysis.
I. The country is divided into 10 provinces and four special regions. We collected data for rural and urban population for each of the provinces and regions. We also collected data on the population 15 years and older (Working Population) to calculate the labor force participation rate.
II. We then use the rural, urban participation rate to estimate the total rural and urban employment for each province.
III. We obtain estimates of the fractions of the urban and rural labor force that are in agriculture and non-agricultural employment from the 1990 household survey data.
IV. From #II and #III, we obtain the total employment in agriculture and non-agriculture for each province.
V. From the survey of large industrial enterprises (“grandeur industrielles”), we obtain employment and production for each province. We assume that one-half of production is gross value added (this being an estimate not statistically based but consistent with the national accounts).
VI. From the national product accounts, we obtain total output originating in agriculture and non-agriculture. Combining that with employment data, we estimate output per worker in agricultural and non-agricultural sectors.
VII. We calculate total output for each province for agriculture and non-agriculture by taking the national productivity figures for each of those sectors and multiplying that figure by total employment by province.
VIII. To obtain total output per province, we add the total output for agriculture and non-agriculture for each province.
IX. Finally, we obtain total output per person in each province by dividing the total output by the total population of each province. We upload per capita GDP for the provinces into the spreadsheet using lookup function in Excel and use this information to calculate Gross Cell Product.
X. The Gross Cell Product was rescaled with the National GDP and further re-scaled to fit the GDP (1990, US $ 1995) MER and PPP.
4. Summary:
Geographical units for rescaling economic data 14
Geographical units for economic data 14
Geographical units for GPW population 12
Grid Cells 21
Major Source for Economic Data:
1. The Economist Intellligence Unit, Country Profile, South Korea, North Korea, 1994-95, pp. 55.
2. The Economist Intellligence Unit, Country Profile, South Korea, North Korea, 1995-96, pp. 56, 67, 87.
3. The Economist Intellligence Unit, Country Profile, South Korea, North Korea, 1997-98, pp. 54, 65, 86.
4. The Economist Intellligence Unit, Country Profile, South Korea, North Korea, 2001, pp. 57, 63, 70.
5. Library.uu.n/populstat/asia/skoreag.htm
6. Altapedia.com/online/countries/korea_n.htm
Prepared By: Qazi T. Azam
Date: May 19, 2005
Data File Name: North Korea_Calc_Qa_051905.xls
Upload File Name: North Korea_Upload_Qa_051905.xls
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11/16/2005