Even the figures released by North Korea itself in 2008 suggested a slow-down in population growth, which otherwise had risen fairly consistently since a drop caused by the Korean War in the early 1950s.Between 1993 and 2008, the country reported a per-annum growth rate of 0.84 per cent. Between 1963 and 1993, that figure had been 2.04 per cent.However, the earlier figure does not paint the full picture, with the average number of children born to women in North Korea decreasing from 6.5 in 1966 to 2.5 in 1988.This was put down to women marrying later, urbanisation, limited housing space in the country and the expectation for women to work – all factors that analysts say have contributed to lower birth rates in other countries.