S. Korea's crude death rate unchanged in 2008: report

SEOUL, April 28 (Yonhap) -- The number of South Korean deaths reported for every
1,000 people remained unchanged in 2008 from the year before as more attention is
paid to personal health, a government report showed Tuesday.
According to the report by the National Statistical Office (NSO), the crude death
rate stood at 5.0 in the cited year with the number remaining fixed since 2004.
"Numbers for the crude death rate have stabilized despite a steady increase in
the population due to advances made in the medical sector and more attention paid
to health," said an official with the agency.
She said that while there was a slight gain in total deaths, the number is
marginal compared to the 49 million people living in the country as of last year.
The latest findings showed the total number of deaths reached 246,000, or a gain
of 1,200 from 2007, with 672 people dying each day on average during the year.
By age, the NSO report said 69.1 percent of all deaths involved people over 65
with numbers falling to 29.7 percent for those between 15 and 64. Of all deaths,
17,100 people were over 65, a 10.8 percentage point gain from a decade earlier.
Deaths among young people under 14 stood at 1.2 percent of the total, or 2,800,
with the infant mortality rate dipping to 3.4 babies out of 1,000 born, a slight
improvement from 3.5 reached in 2007.
The infant mortality rate calculates the number of deaths among babies less than
a year old and is often used to determine health care conditions within a
certain country.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
(END)