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ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to investigate biosocial living conditions of North Korean infants aged 0-2 years of age at measurement by drawing on refugee surveys conducted from 1995 to 2008 in South Korea—a critical time during which the country went through a great famine. To this end, body-mass indices of 48 infants were regressed on place of birth (China vs. North Korea), sex (male vs. female), and birth period (pre-reform period 1999 to 2002 vs. post-reform period 2003 to 2006). Most interestingly, cohorts born before market reforms had a significantly higher BMI than those born afterwards. While marketization provided a way out of the crisis for many families, the reforms also created losers, including apparently recent mothers. Apparently, these recent mothers could not participate in the flourishing market economy for child bearing and rearing reasons.

Keywords: Body-mass index, China, DPRK, economic reforms, health, height, infant, nutrition, weight