A United Nations study has found that poor nutrition among North Koreans has worsened in recent years.

According to an annual report by the Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO) on Thursday, ten-point-nine million North Koreans, or 42-point-four percent of the population, were malnourished between 2018 and 2020.

The rate of malnutrition is much higher than the global average of eight-point-nine percent, the average of eight-point-two percent across Asia and the 19 percent average among African nations. 

The rate, which stood at 35.7 percent in 2000-2002, had recovered to as much as 24.9 percent 2016-2018, but then surged to 42.6 percent in 2017-2019, according to FAO data.

An average North Korean consumes two-thousand-75 kilocalories per day, some 30 percent less than the global average of two-thousand-950 kilocalories. An average South Korean consumes three-thousand-465 kilocalories.

The suitability of average consumption by North Koreans stood at 86 percent, meaning they only consumed 86 percent of the necessary caloric intake. The global average was 124 percent, with South Koreans posting 141 percent.

[Photo : YONHAP News]