In South Korea, approximately 70.69 percent of the population was between 15 and 64 years old in 2023, while those above the age of 64 made up around 18.34 percent. The youngest generation made up an even smaller percentage than the elderly, but were the only group that did not increase in size over the last decade, partly due to a decrease in births since 2007. Reasons for fewer children While it is not always the case that family sizes shrink when there are less births per woman, the fertility rate in South Korea is undisputably decreasing overall and less children are born. The reasons people cite for having fewer children vary greatly by gender and marital status in South Korea: For example, more married people than singles - and of those more married women than men - say that the difficulty of maintaining a work life balance is the largest concern for them. Meanwhile, men express more economic concerns about child support, and notably more singles nowadays say they feel no need to have children.

In 2025, the total population of South Korea is projected to be around ***** million. In thirty years, the number of people aged 15 to 64 is estimated to decrease by one-third, while the number of older adults is anticipated to more than double. Additionally, the overall population is expected to decline by around *** million people by that time. Declining birth rate Several factors are contributing to the expected demographic changes in South Korea. Firstly, the birth rate has been declining for years. As of 2024, South Korea had the lowest fertility rate in the world. This trend continues despite the efforts of successive governments to encourage young people to have children. An increasing number of South Korean women are prioritizing their careers, often choosing to focus on work rather than starting a family at a young age. While the employment rate for South Korean women is still lower than that of men, it has steadily risen over the past decade. Increase in life expectancy Secondly, life expectancy in South Korea has steadily increased due to improved living standards and healthcare. The average life expectancy at birth for South Koreans has risen from less than 75 years to almost 83 years over the past twenty years. As a result, the proportion of people aged 65 and older has grown from less than ** percent to around ** percent in the last decade.

According to a survey among content creators with a YouTube channel in South Korea, most respondents were in their thirties, at a share of ** percent in 2023. Following were content creators in their twenties or below that at roughly **** percent.

The statistic shows the total population of South Korea from 2020 to 2024, with projections up until 2030. In 2024, the total population of South Korea was about 51.75 million people. Population of South Korea South Korea, also called Republic of Korea, has one of the highest population densities worldwide, i.e. a very high number of inhabitants per square kilometer. However, this does not equal bad standard of living; on the Human Development Index, which ranks countries by their level of living standards using key factors, such as unemployment rate, literacy rate, fertility and mortality rates, etc., South Korea is among the highest-ranked countries. When looking at the aforementioned key factors, South Korea indeed seems to offer a fairly stable environment for its inhabitants, economically and demographically: The country’s unemployment rate has been relatively steady for the past decade, its gross domestic product (GDP) is constantly increasing, and it is among the countries with the highest trade surplus worldwide. As for standard of living, life expectancy at birth in South Korea is among the highest worldwide – South Korea is even mentioned in a recent ranking of the best birthplaces for children. Despite the high population density, South Korea is now one of the countries with the lowest fertility rates, i.e. the number of babies born by women of childbearing age. This apparent discrepancy could be explained by a high number of immigrants coupled with the aforementioned high life expectancy.

BackgroundCURB65 and CRB65 score are simple and popular methods to estimate the mortality in patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Although there has been a global increase in life expectancy and population ageing, we are still using the same age threshold derived from patients in late 1990s to calculate the scores. We sought to assess the implication of using higher age threshold using Korean population data and a single center hospital records.MethodsUsing Korean National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort (NHIS-NSC), we analyzed annual age distribution of CAP patients in Korea from 2005 to 2013 and report how patients aged >65 years increased over time. We also assessed annual change in test characteristics of various age threshold in Korean CAP population. Using a single center hospital registry of CAP patients (2008–2017), we analyzed test characteristics of CURB65 and CRB65 scores with various age thresholds.Results116,481 CAP cases were identified from NHIS-NSC dataset. The proportion of patients aged >65 increased by 1.01% (95% CI, 0.70%-1.33%, P

In 2023, Songpa-gu had the largest population among the ** districts in Seoul, South Korea, with around ***** thousand inhabitants. That year, the total population of Seoul stood at about *** million.

In 2024, the population of South Korea was estimated to be about ***** million. The population of North Korea was approximately ***** million, which is roughly half the population of South Korea. Economic comparison between South and North Korea Following the Korean War (1950-1953), South Korea and North Korea pursued vastly different trajectories, both politically and economically. South Korea embraced capitalism and free market principles, which fueled its rapid economic growth and transformed it into one of the world's leading economies. In contrast, North Korea adopted a state-controlled, centrally planned economy, leading to isolation and economic stagnation. While South Korea's gross domestic product (GDP) reached around ***** trillion South Korean won in 2023, only about ** trillion won was recorded for North Korea. Food crisis in North Korea North Korea has faced food insecurity for a long time, and this has been exacerbated in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was estimated that the country had a food shortage of around ******* metric tons in 2023. Although the North Korean government maintains a centrally planned economic system, food distribution has long been a problem, as an increasing number of North Korean defectors have reported that they have never received food from North Korean authorities.

This bar chart displays median age (year) by date using the aggregation average, weighted by population in Korea. The data is filtered where the date is 2021. The data is about countries per year.

Estimates, total number of people per grid-cell. The dataset is available to download in Geotiff format at a resolution of 3 arc (approximately 100m at the equator). The projection is Geographic Coordinate System, WGS84. The units are number of people per pixel. The mapping approach is Random Forest-based dasymetric redistribution.

More information can be found in the Release Statement

Please note that these data represent 2025 Alpha release versions, constructed in September 2025

Estimates, total number of people per grid-cell. The dataset is available to download in Geotiff format at a resolution of 3 arc (approximately 100m at the equator). The projection is Geographic Coordinate System, WGS84. The units are number of people per pixel. The mapping approach is Random Forest-based dasymetric redistribution.

More information can be found in the Release Statement

Please note that these data represent 2025 Alpha release versions, constructed in September 2025

This bar chart displays population (people) by currency using the aggregation sum in Korea. The data is about countries per year.

Performance changes of CRB65 and CURB65 with increasing age in SNUBH-EDP registry.

According to data collected across ***** mobile applications in ** different industries in South Korea in 2023, ** percent of education-related application users were people in their forties. People aged between 20 and 49 made up the large majority of users in every category of mobile applications.

This bar chart displays population (people) by ISO 3 country code using the aggregation sum in Korea. The data is about countries per year.

DATASET: Alpha version 2010 and 2015 estimates of numbers of people per grid square, with national totals adjusted to match UN population division estimates (http://esa.un.org/wpp/) and remaining unadjusted. REGION: Asia SPATIAL RESOLUTION: 0.000833333 decimal degrees (approx 100m at the equator) PROJECTION: Geographic, WGS84 UNITS: Estimated persons per grid square MAPPING APPROACH: Land cover based, as described in: Gaughan AE, Stevens FR, Linard C, Jia P and Tatem AJ, 2013, High resolution population distribution maps for Southeast Asia in 2010 and 2015, PLoS ONE, 8(2): e55882 FORMAT: Geotiff (zipped using 7-zip (open access tool): www.7-zip.org) FILENAMES: Example - VNM_popmap10adj_v2.tif = Vietnam (VNM) population count map for 2010 (popmap10) adjusted to match UN national estimates (adj), version 2 (v2). DATE OF PRODUCTION: January 2013

In 2024, the population aged 65 or older in South Korea made up approximately ** percent of the total population. The share of older people in the total population has almost tripled in the last two decades.

This bar chart displays rural population (people) by currency using the aggregation sum in Korea. The data is about countries per year.

This bar chart displays rural population (people) by capital city using the aggregation sum in Korea. The data is filtered where the date is 2021. The data is about countries per year.

This bar chart displays female population (people) by currency using the aggregation sum in Korea. The data is filtered where the date is 2021. The data is about countries per year.

As of August 28, 2023, around 59.8 percent of the patients who died from novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in South Korea were aged 80 years or older. This was despite older people making up only a small percentage of all COVID-19 cases in South Korea. A fourth wave fueled by the delta and omicron variants led to a record rate of new daily cases in 2022, which once again began to decline in 2023.

For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.