Jeju’s population decreases due to harsh living conditions

Citrus picking on Jeju Island. Courtesy of Jeju Island

Park Mi-so, 40, who lives in Incheon but used to stay with his family on Jeju Island for a week or a month at a time, gave up on the idea of completely moving to Jeju Island. She said, "I've been living in Jeju for a short time because I wanted to let my children play in nature, but I gave up on moving to Jeju because the cost of housing is too high and there are no suitable jobs for me."

As the decade-long “Living in Jeju Island Craze” has come to an end, Jeju has also become a region worried about population outflow. Jeju is particularly worried about the outflow of young people in their 20s.

According to the Jeju Provincial Government and Statistics Korea on February 1, the net migration rate, which is the number of people who moved to Jeju last year (81,508) minus the number of people who moved out (83,195), was minus 1,687. This means that more people left Jeju than came to the island. This is the first time in 14 years that Jeju's population has turned into a net outflow since 2009.

Since 2010, Jeju's population inflow has outpaced its outflow, peaking in 2016 with a net inflow of 14,632 people. The number of migrants per year increased from an average of around 80,000 to more than 100,000 from 2016 to 2018. The increase was driven by the popularity of "living in Jeju" and "moving to Jeju," as well as an increase in tourists, the relocation of public institutions and companies in the metropolitan area, and English language education programs.

However, since 2019, population growth has slowed down, and the scale of inflow has fallen to 2,000 to 3,000 people a year, eventually turning into a net outflow last year.

The reasons behind the decrease in population inflow include the burden of migration and deteriorating settlement conditions due to rising real estate prices, which have been among the highest in the country for years. The average price of an apartment in Jeju has fluctuated around an average of 25 million won per 3.3㎡ last year.

Traffic congestion and parking difficulties, similar to those in large cities, and environmental damage caused by large-scale development are also contributing factors. The lack of jobs other than tourism and the slow pace of attracting investment and companies also seem to have affected it.

It is also reported that there are a number of people who have moved to Jeju but are unable to adapt and return.

In particular, the phenomenon of “moving out of Jeju” among young people in their 20s is becoming more prominent. Last year, Jeju's population movement by age showed a net outflow of 1,397 people aged 20 to 24 and 605 people aged 25 to 29. In their 20s alone, more than 2,002 people left Jeju. The figure is larger than the total net outflow population (1,687 people) in Jeju last year. Even among teenagers, there was also a net outflow of 740 people.

The biggest reason for the exodus of young people is the deterioration of the academic, occupational, and settlement environment. According to a survey conducted in 2022, "lack of jobs" (50.9 percent) was ranked first among the difficulties faced by youth in the island.

This was followed by poor working conditions (40.2 percent), high cost of living (30.2 percent), burdensome housing costs (26.3 percent), and lack of opportunities for cultural activities (10.8 percent).

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.