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Mental healthcare in South Korea

Part of: BJPsych International Country Profiles Collection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Guk-Hee Suh
Guk-Hee Suh*
Affiliation:
Hallym University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Visiting Lecturer, Imperial College School of Medicine, London, UK, email: suhgh@chol.com
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The Korean peninsula is located between China and Japan. After the Second World War, the Republic of Korea was established in the southern half of the Korean peninsula. South Korea has a total area of 98 480 km2 and a population of 48 598 175 (July 2004 estimate). The per capita gross domestic product (GDP), in terms of purchasing power parity, is US$17 700 (2003 estimate) (Central Intelligence Agency, 2004). The illiteracy rate (among those aged over 15 years) is 1.9% (0.7% for males and 3% for females) (2003 estimate). Life expectancy at birth is 75.6 years (72.0 years for males and 79.5 years for females) and the infant mortality rate is 7.2 per 1000 births (2004 estimate). The unemployment rate is 3.4% (2003 estimate). The proportion of the population aged 65 and over is currently 8.7% (2004 estimate) (Korea National Statistics Office, 2003). Over 40% of the total Korean population (i.e. some 20 million) lives in Seoul and its vicinity. South Korea is highly urbanised and modernised. Besides central government, local government is based on seven metropolitan cities and nine provinces.

Type
Country profile
Information
International Psychiatry , Volume 2 , Issue 7 , January 2005 , pp. 10 - 12
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Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2005

References

Central Intelligence Agency (2004) World Factbook. Available at www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ks.html. Last accessed 22 November 2004.Google Scholar
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