Fair Distribution of Food in North Korea

(Pyongyang, North Korea) Central planning by the National Peoples' Committee (NPC) assures that all citizens are given their fair share of food via the Public Distribution System (PDS).


Distribution of Food Per Person
(in grams per day)
According to a food and crop assessment of the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea by World Food Program evaluators:

Each year, following the harvest, the Ministry of Food Administration prepares a ration plan, based upon government estimates of the cereals remaining for distribution to the PDS. The Ministry informed the mission that they estimate 2 291 004 tonnes cereals will be available for PDS dependents during the coming marketing year (2011/12), allowing them to distribute rations averaging 380 grams per person per day.

In times of food scarcity, the ration can be considerably less than planned.

The average PDS ration between May and September 2011 was at or below 200 grams/person/day, reaching 150 grams/person/day in June 2011. This drastic reduction in PDS rations was last experienced in 2008, when it was maintained for four months, June through September. The ration remained constant at 200 grams/person/day from July through September 2011 supplied, at least in part, by the harvest of early crop potatoes, wheat, and barley.

Notice that North Korean citizens are called 'dependents' who, in the summer, get only about five ounces of food each day.