North Korea: cost of living

How many people in North Korea do not have enough food?

47% of North Korea's population was undernourished in 2018, the latest year in World Bank data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). 19.1% of children under five were stunted in 2017, according to the stunting series from UNICEF, WHO and the World Bank.

Undernourishment is the FAO's estimate of the share of people whose usual food intake does not provide enough energy for an active, healthy life, based on food supply and its distribution. Stunting, low height for age, reflects long-term undernutrition in early childhood. No official price or household income statistics were found on the official DPRK sites naenara.com.kp, kcna.kp, rodong.rep.kp and mfa.gov.kp, which returned errors or could not be reached when checked on 15 October 2026.

Official sources: World Bank: Prevalence of undernourishment, DPRK · World Bank: Prevalence of stunting, DPRK