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CarlShulman comments on This Failing Earth - Less Wrong
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Maybe 7 figure death tolls from famine didn't occur in those two years (definitely not 2008), since life expectancy is calculated based on death rates within the different age categories in the particular year. If every fifth year 20% of the population is slaughtered, that could actually raise life expectancy for most years if the death disproportionately affected the unhealthy (as famine might).
According to Wikipedia North Korea had positive population growth even during the famine, so this cannot be the explanation. Even if life expectancy figure for North Korea is too high for some reasons, it still seems to be far better than for most real failed third world countries, especially in Africa.
Positive population growth means the addition of more low-mortality babies into the population. But certainly if the figures are to be trusted (like the claims of Kim Il Sung's supernatural powers?) that could only explain a portion.