Shillong, July 27: According to data released by Statistics Korea, South Korea’s total population experienced a second consecutive year of decline in 2022, mainly due to critically low birth rates and an increasing proportion of seniors. The total population fell to 51.69 million in November, representing a 0.1 percent decrease of 46,000 compared to the previous year. This decline comes after the country’s first on-year population decrease since 1949, as reported by Yonhap News Agency.
The data also revealed that the number of foreigners living in South Korea for more than three months increased by 6.2 percent, reaching 1.75 million. Although the country is becoming more diverse, South Korean nationals still constituted 96.6 percent of the population.
South Korea’s demographic challenges stem from a chronically low birth rate and rapid aging. Factors such as a prolonged economic slowdown, high housing prices, and evolving social norms about marriage have led many young people to delay or forgo marriage and having children.
IANS reported that in May, only 18,988 babies were born, marking a 5.3 percent decrease from the previous year—the lowest number for any May since data compilation began in 1981. The number of babies born in South Korea has been declining year on year for 90 consecutive months.
The working-age population, between 15 to 64 years old, accounted for 36.69 million people in 2022, representing 71 percent of the total population. Meanwhile, South Koreans aged 65 and above constituted 18.1 percent of the population, significantly higher than the 11.3 percent recorded in 2010. The senior index, which measures the number of individuals aged 65 and above per 100 people aged 14 and below, rose to 156.1, an increase of 13.1 over the period.
The census data also indicated a rise in single-member households, reaching 7.5 million, a 4.7 percent increase from the previous year. These households accounted for 34.5 percent of the total, rising by 1 percentage point over the period.