Health

As life expectancy more than doubled from the early 1930s to the early 1980s, Koreans have benefited from rapidly improving health as a consequence of public intervention, medical modernization, and economic growth. Much of the mortality decline took place after the Korean War (1950–53), due largely to foreign aid, public intervention, and improved water supply. This chapter provides information on the causes driving this epidemiological and health transition, dividing relevant statistics into several groups. First, statistics on causes of deaths are presented; this is followed by data on the incidence of major diseases, particularly infectious diseases, including the influenza pandemic of 1919. The third group of statistics show the expansion of medical facilities, such as the number of hospitals, sick beds, and medical professionals. The development of national health insurance since 1980 is the fourth topic, which deals with the number of individuals covered by the scheme, insurance premium and benefits, and coverage rates. As measures of the use of medical service, this chapter presents the number of in- and out-patients for different types of medical institutions and household expenditures on medical care broken down in terms of function, finance, and service supplier. Finally, a variety of health indicators are provided, such as height, weight, and smoking rate, which presents a mixed picture.