This book presents economic statistics of Korea in the past three centuries, focusing on the century following 1910. The data, typically time series rather than cross-sectional, are given in 22 chapters, which refer to population, wages, prices, education, health, national income and wealth, and technology, among others. Rather than simply putting together available data, the contributors to this statistical compendium made adjustments to ensure intertemporal consistency when required. An overview draws attention to the discontinuous shifts occurring over time in the quantity and quality of the statistical information available, which was associated with the regime changes Korea underwent including the imposition of Japanese rule in 1910 and de-colonization and split into two Koreas three and half decades later. Individual chapters begin with a brief introduction, which helps users better understand and use the data. Data sources and references in the Japanese and Korean language are fully provided following the standard Hepburn and McCune-Reischauer Romanization with English translation to assist users to identify materials and explore more deeply the wealth of statistical data waiting to be analyzed.

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Born in South Korea in 1955, Myung Soo Cha studied sociology at Seoul National University (M.A.) and economics at the graduate school of Seoul National University (M.Econ.) and obtained doctorate at Warwick University with a dissertation on the cyclical interaction among Argentina, Britain, Germany, and the U.S. He visited Harvard University in 1993/5 and Hitotsubashi University as a visiting scholar in 2000. He served on the board of editors of the Australian Review of Economic History from 2008-2018 and has taught the Korean economic history, the Korean economic development, and macroeconomics at the School of Economics and Finance, Yeungnam University. Regular participants at international conferences on economic history, he delivered a keynote speech at the Asian Historical Economics Congress held in Seoul in 2016 on the historical origins of the South Korean growth miracle.

Born in South Korea in 1957 Nak Nyeon Kim studied economics at Seoul National University (B.A.) and wrote a Ph.D. dissertation on the economic development of Korea under Japanese rule at Tokyo University. He has taught economic history, growth economics, and income and wealth distribution in the economics department of Dongguk University since 1993. Having served as the president of the Korean Economic History Society in 2013, Nak Nyeon Kim is currently the director of the Naksongdae Institute of Economic Research, a research center specializing in quantitative research on the development of the Korean economy. Since 2016, he has advised the National Statistical Office of South Korea on the improvement of the quality of statistical information made publicly available. In 2016, the South Korean government awarded Nak Nyeon Kim the Oder of Service Merit in recognition for his contribution to the measurement of the change in income and wealth distribution.

Born in South Korea in 1961, Ki-Joo Park was educated at the Economics Department and Graduate School of Seoul National University (B.A., M.Econ. and Ph.D.). His doctoral research investigated the rise of the mining industry in late nineteenth and twentieth century Korea. Associated with the Naksongdae Institute of Economic Research as a research fellow from 2000-05, he taught Economic History and the History of Economics at Seoul National University and Sukmyung University, which was followed by the shift to Sungshin Women's University in 2006. He served as the president of the Korean Economic History Society in 2016.

Born in South Korea in 1965, Yitaek Park studied economics at Seoul National University (B.A., M.Econ, and Ph.D.). His Ph.D. dissertation describes the development of communications sector in Korea under Japanese rule. Having been associated with Sungkyunkwan University as a post-doctoral fellow, lecturer, and research assistant professor from 2002-10, he has worked as a research professor at Korea University from 2011. He visited the Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University as a visiting scholar in 2006/7 and served as the editor-in-chief of the journal published by the Korean Economic History Society, Review of Economic History from 2016-18.

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