air pollution in large cities; acid rain; water pollution from the discharge of sewage and industrial effluents; drift net fishing; solid waste disposal; transboundary air pollution from China
party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protection, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Marine Dumping-London Protocol, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
particulate matter emissions: 24.57 micrograms per cubic meter (2016 est.)
carbon dioxide emissions: 620.3 megatons (2016 est.)
methane emissions: 30.28 megatons (2020 est.)
temperate, with rainfall heavier in summer than winter; cold winters
agricultural land: 18.1% (2018 est.)
arable land: 15.3% (2018 est.)
permanent crops: 2.2% (2018 est.)
permanent pasture: 0.6% (2018 est.)
forest: 63.9% (2018 est.)
other: 18% (2018 est.)
urban population: 81.5% of total population (2023)
rate of urbanization: 0.31% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)
forest revenues: 0.01% of GDP (2018 est.)
coal revenues: 0% of GDP (2018 est.)
respiratory diseases: Covid-19 (see note) (2020)
note: a novel coronavirus is causing an outbreak of respiratory illness (COVID-19) in South Korea; as of 9 December 2022, South Korea has reported a total of 27,611,555 cases of COVID-19 or 53,856 cumulative cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 population with a total of 30,975 cumulative deaths or a rate of 60.4 cumulative deaths per 100,000 population; as of 8 December 2022, 87.1% of the population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine
municipal solid waste generated annually: 18,218,975 tons (2014 est.)
municipal solid waste recycled annually: 10,567,006 tons (2014 est.)
percent of municipal solid waste recycled: 58% (2014 est.)
municipal: 6.672 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)
industrial: 4.45 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)
agricultural: 15.96 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)
69.7 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)
NOTE: The information regarding Korea South on this page is re-published from the 2022 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Korea South 2022 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Korea South 2022 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.
This page was last modified 01 Dec 23, Copyright © 23 ITA all rights reserved.