hankyoreh

North Korea's population is expected to increase slightly to 23.48 million in July, according to a U.S. intelligence agency report.

North Korea will see its population increase to 23,479,089 in July, up 0.73 percent from 23,301,725 a year ago, the Central Intelligence Agency said in its updated version of the World Factbook 2008.

The report, available on the agency's Website, also estimated the average life expectancy for North Koreans at 72.2 years, 0.28 of a year longer than a year earlier.

The average life expectancy had been on a steady rise from 71.37 in 2005, to 71.65 in 2006, 71.92 in 2007.

The crude birth rate, or the number of newborn babies for every 1,000 people, was estimated to be 14.61, down from 15.06 a year earlier. The crude death rate was on the increase from 7.05 in 2005, to 7.13 in 2006, 7.21 in 2007 and 7.29 this year.

No complete census has taken place in North Korea since 1994 when a U.N. agency helped the communist state conduct a national census. Pyongyang announced after the survey that its population was 21.21 million people.

According to an almanac released Sunday by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, North Korea's population increased gradually to 23.6 million in 2004 despite the chronic economic plight of the isolated communist state.

North Korea is scheduled to hold the first nationwide census in 14 years with assistance from the United Nations Population Fund in October.

SEOUL, April 23 (Yonhap)