Korea’s total population declines for second year in 2022

[Photo by Park Hyung-ki]

South Korea’s total population has declined for two straight years in 2022 for the first time due to a declining birthrate and aging population, posing increasing challenges for the young people burdened with caring for the elderly.

According to the 2022 Population and Housing Census released by Statistics Korea on Thursday, the total population of Korea stood at 51.69 million as of November last year, down by 46,000 from the previous year.

This is the second time since 2021 that the country’s population has shrunk. The population growth rate peaked at 3 percent in 1960 and has been positive at less than 1 percent since 1995 but turned negative in 2021.

Among the total population, the number of domestic citizens fell by 148,000 or 0.3 percent from the previous year to 49.94 million, returning to the 40 million range for the first time in four years since 2018. But the decrease was offset by a remarkable increase in foreign residents.

The foreign population surged by 102,000 or 6.2 percent from the previous year to reach 1.75 million. After experiencing a decline for two consecutive years due to the impact of Covid-19, the foreign population reversed its trend and showed growth in the past year.

Among foreign nationals, Chinese people, including ethnic Koreans, accounted for the largest share at 30.1 percent (527,000 people), followed by Vietnam (11.9 percent, 209,000 people).

“The increase in elderly deaths due to the pandemic and a decline in the birth rate have contributed to the overall population decrease,” said Kim Seo-young, head of the population census division at Statistics Korea.

“Last year, the decline in the foreign population had an impact, whereas this year, the decrease in the domestic population had a more significant effect,” Kim added.

Notably, the number of children under 14 years old (5.86 million) decreased by 3.7 percent from the previous year, falling below 6 million for the first time since data compilation began. The working-age population, aged 15 to 64 (36.68 million), continued its decline with a 0.7 percent fall from the previous year.

In contrast, the elderly population aged 65 and above reached 9.15 million, showing a rapid growth of 5.1 percent from the previous year. The proportion of the elderly population in the total population increased to 17.7 percent, up by 0.9 percentage points. This marks the first time the elderly population has surpassed 9 million.

The old-age dependency ratio, which measures the number of elderly people to be supported per 100 people of working age, increased to 24.9, up by 1.4 percentage points.

Meanwhile, the youth dependency ratio, which measures the number of children to be supported per 100 people of working age, fell by 0.5 percentage points from the previous year to 16.0. Among the total population, there were 25.83 million males and 25.85 million females, with females outnumbering males by 22,000.