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| Korea's population is officially shrinking. Gettyimagesbank |
By Jung Min-ho
Korea's population is officially shrinking.
For the first time since the government started keeping track in 1983, deaths outnumbered births in November, and the country is expected to report its first annual population decline this year.
According to Statistics Korea data released last week, 25,438 people died that month, up 5.1 percent from a year earlier. Meanwhile, the number of newborns fell short with 23,819, a 5.9 percent decrease from a year earlier and a November record low.
More deaths than births put the country's natural population growth at minus 0.4 percent.
The trend is expected to accelerate. According to the data, 20, 493 couples married that month, down 10.1 percent from a year earlier.
Across the rich world, many women increasingly choose to marry late, if at all, and have one child, if any. Korea is one of the most ― if not the most ― extreme cases.
In 2018, the country's total fertility rate ― the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime ― hit a record low of 0.98, far below the replacement level of 2.1 that would keep the population stable at 51 million.
All the while, the population continues to age. The number of people aged 65 or over makes up 15.5 percent of all citizens. The average age of Koreans is now 42.6.
Concerned about the decreasing working population and many other problems expected to emerge, such as a shortage of students and soldiers, the government said Thursday that it would set up an advisory body to discuss the demographic shift.
"The next 10 years will be critical because the generation of baby boomers is set to retire," said Vice Finance Minister Kim Yong-beom. "All government ministries need to understand how serious the issue has become and work together to find solutions."
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