Korea’s elderly population hits 10 mn for first time

(Yonhap)

South Korea’s elderly population topped the 10-million mark for the first time in 2024.

According to the “2024 Population and Housing Census Results” released by Statistics Korea on Tuesday, the country’s population aged 65 and older in the country was 10.12 million as of November 2024, accounting for 19.5 percent of the total population. This is a 5.3 percent increase from the previous year and the first time the elderly population has surpassed 10 million.

A significant portion of the elderly consists of single-person households, according to the census results. There were 3.005 million single-person households aged 60 or older, which exceeded the 3-million mark for the first time. Of the country’s 8.045 million single-person households, 37.3 percent were elderly.

Meanwhile, the working-age population is declining. The population aged 15 to 64 stood at 36.26 million as of November 2024, accounting for 70 percent of the total population, while the youth population was only 10.5 percent.

The aging index rose by 15.7 points year-on-year to 186.7.

By region, Gunwi County in Daegu Metropolitan City had the highest aging index at 1,188.7, while Sejong Special Self-Governing City had the lowest at 63.3, reflecting a regional gap as large as 19-fold.

“The working-age population peaked in 2015 at 73.4 percent and has been declining since,” Kim Seo-young, head of the Population Census Division at Statistics Korea., said. “The elderly population topped 10 million for the first time and there is a wider gap in aging indexes between regions.”

The number of foreign residents rose 5.6 percent from the previous year to 2.043 million, surpassing the 2-million mark for the first time.

While the domestic population declined by 0.2 percent to 49.76 million, the total population increased by 0.1 percent, or 31,000 people, to 51.81 million - meaning the entire population growth was thanks to foreigners and indicating a fundamental shift in the country’s demographic structure.

Among foreign residents, those in their 30s accounted for the largest share at 27.7 percent, with the most common nationalities being ethnic Koreans from China followed by Vietnamese, Chinese, and Thai nationals.

The number of housing units nationwide increased by 1.7 percent to 19.87 million units, but Seoul’s growth rate was only 0.5 percent, the lowest on record.