North Korea’s economy grew by 3.7% last year, marking its highest growth rate in eight years since 2016 (3.9%).
According to the 2024 North Korean Economic Growth Rate Estimation Results released by the Bank of Korea on August 29, North Korea’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased by 0.6 percentage points from the previous year’s 3.1%.
The construction sector (12.3%), mining (8.8%), and manufacturing (7.0%) were the main drivers of this growth.
The construction industry saw an increase in residential building projects, while the mining sector experienced growth across coal, metal, and non-metal production—marking its highest growth rate since 2000 (13.5%).
In manufacturing, despite setbacks in the light industry, heavy industry surged by 10.7%, particularly in primary metal products, machinery, and chemicals, which bolstered the overall growth rate. The manufacturing sector’s growth rate was the highest since 1999 (7.9%).
However, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries declined by 1.9% due to poor performance in livestock and forestry, reaching the lowest point since 2022 (-2.1%).
The service sector’s growth slowed, increasing by only 1.3%.
In terms of industrial structure, mining and manufacturing (30.5%) and services (29.8%) represented the largest shares, followed by agriculture, forestry, and fisheries (20.9%). The electricity, gas, and water supply sector increased its share to 7.2%, up by 1.8 percentage points, while the shares of services, agriculture, and manufacturing declined.
North Korea’s nominal Gross National Income (GNI) reached 44.4 trillion KRW (about 31.9 million USD), an 8.6% increase from the previous year, which is about 1.7% of South Korea’s GNI (2,593.8 trillion KRW (about 1.95 trillion USD)).
The per capita GNI stood at 1.719 million KRW (about 1,234 USD), reflecting an 8.2% year-on-year increase, although it only accounted for 3.4% of South Korea’s (50.12 million KRW (about 36,000 USD)).
The scale of external trade amounted to 2.7 billion USD, a decrease of 2.6% from the previous year.
Exports, which included wigs, processed hair, minerals, slag, ash, and watches, rose by 10.8% to 360 million USD, while imports fell by 4.4% to 2.34 billion USD due to declines in fertilizers, grains, and tobacco. There were no reported trade activities between North and South Korea, continuing the trend from the previous year.
The Bank of Korea explained that these estimates are based on South Korea’s price and value-added rates, as it is challenging to access North Korean data directly, and cautioned against directly comparing North Korean economic indicators with those of other countries.