S. Korea's population hits 49 million, set to reach 50 million in five years

South Korea's population has broken 49 million and is set to reach the milestone of 50 million in five years, government data showed Friday.

The data from the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs also reflected the country's aging population with a sharp decrease in births over past decades.

South Korea's registered population as of 2006 totaled 49,024,737. Males accounted for 24,574,821, with females totaling with 24,449,916.

Nearly half of the population, or 48.5 percent, live in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi Province, where the country's industrial, political and social facilities are concentrated.

Seoul alone accounted for 20.78 percent of the population with 10.18 million.

Areas with the lowest population densities mostly belonged to Gangwon Province near the demilitarized zone along the border with North Korea: Geunbuk-myeon, Cheorwon County, which had only 149 residents, and Jindong-myeon, Paju City, Gangwon Province, with 142 people.

Roughly 450,000 babies were born last year. That figure was up 2.23 percent from the previous year, but was a sharp drop from the 1980s, during which an average 750,000 babies were born annually.

The number of deaths in 2006 was roughly 240,000, down 3.85 percent from the previous year.

The number of births versus deaths suggested the country will have to wait five years to reach the population milestone of 50 million.

As for the country's aging population, the number of people aged 65 and older was up 0.5 percent from 2005 with about 4.56 million, which made up 9.3 percent of the entire population.

The province that suffered most from an aging population was South Jeolla Province, in the country's southwest, where the elderly made up 16.3 percent of its demographic. The southeastern industrial city of Ulsan was the youngest, with the elderly accounting for only 5.6 percent.

The statistics also illustrate the growing trend of single-person households. There were 5.55 million people living alone, up from 5.16 million from the previous year, accounting for 30.27 percent of all households.

Seoul, Feb. 9 (Yonhap News)