South Korea's population is forecast to decline beginning in 2020 due to its low fertility rate, the country's statistics office said Tuesday.
Korea's rapidly aging society will see citizens over the age of 60 account for more than 14 percent of the population, known as an aged society, by 2018, reported the National Statistical Office.
The report showed that the country's population will start to decrease from 2020 after peaking at 49.34 million in 2018. The country's populace currently stands at 48.12 million.
The office attributed the expected decline in the population to a low fertility rate.
South Korea's fertility rate, the average number of babies that a woman aged 15-49 gives birth to during her lifetime, hit a record low of 1.08 in 2005 as more women engaged in economic activities and married at an older age.
The country's fertility rate stood at 1.16 in 2004, lower than the United States and Japan, which stood at 2.05 and 1.29 respectively.
The report showed that the birth rate, however, will rise to 1.2 in 2020 and to 1.28 in 2030.
Life expectancy will rise to 80.6 years in 2050 from 78.6 years in 2005, it said.
The economically active population in the 15-64 age bracket will drop to 35.51 million in 2020, 31.29 million in 2030 and 22.42 million in 2050, after peaking at 36.19 million in 2016, said the office.
According to the report, the country's gender ratio, the number of males per 100 females in a population, will likely be 100.1 in 2020 and 96 in 2050.
If the birth rate stays at its current level, it will drain the nation's labor pool and create demand for an improved social safety net to cope with the aging population, the report showed.
The office said that by 2050 there will be one citizen over the age of 65 who needs support for every 1.4 members of the South's workforce. This year the ratio is considerably lower at 1:8.
Seoul, Nov. 21 (Yonhap News)
S. Korean population set to dwindle from 2020 |
