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.

In 1900, the crude birth rate in South Korea was just under 42 births for every thousand people, meaning that approximately 4.2 percent of the population was born in that year. The crude birth rate would rise briefly in the 1930s, as Japanese investment would lead to economic growth on the peninsula, but would fall sharply in the 1940s, as the Second World War and the Korean War would result in two decades of significant socio-economic turmoil. While the crude birth rate would recover quickly after the end of the Korean War in 1953, a sharp decline in fertility beginning in the 1960s would see a corresponding fall in the crude birth rate lasting until the late 1980s, as South Korea would go through a rapid demographic transition and modernization. While the crude birth rate would briefly rise in the early 1990s, partially due to governmental restrictions on sex-selective abortion; the rate of decline would slow going into the 21st century. As a result, in 2020, it is estimated that South Korea has a birth rate of seven births for every thousand people, which is one of the lowest birth rates in the world.

Total current population for South Korea in 2025 is 51,690,479, a 0.1% decline from 2024.

<ul style='margin-top:20px;'>

<li>Total population for South Korea in 2024 was <strong>51,741,963</strong>, a <strong>0.08% decline</strong> from 2023.</li>
<li>Total population for South Korea in 2023 was <strong>51,784,059</strong>, a <strong>0.06% decline</strong> from 2022.</li>
<li>Total population for South Korea in 2022 was <strong>51,815,810</strong>, a <strong>0.03% decline</strong> from 2021.</li>
</ul>Total population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship. The values shown are midyear estimates.

In 2025, South Korea's male population is projected to reach about 25.84 million, while the female population is estimated at 25.85 million. In the long term, South Korea's population is expected to decline, reaching about 36.22 million in 2072.

In 1900, the fertility rate in the region of present-day South Korea was six children per woman, meaning that the average woman born in South Korea in that year could expect to have six children over the course of their reproductive years. This number began to fluctuate in the 1930s, when the Japanese administration (the Korean peninsula had been annexed by Japan in 1910) promoted fertility as part of the war effort, before fertility dropped below 5.2 births per woman in the aftermath of the war. It then increased above 6.3 in the 1950s due to the devastation and mass-displacement caused by the Korean War. As stability returned to the region, South Korea's fertility rate would fall sharply throughout the remainder of the century, as modernization, urbanization, and the implementation of family planning programs would see fertility fall to just over 1.5 children per woman by 1990.

Sex-selective abortion and gender ratios Abortion was illegal in South Korea between 1953 and 2020, although it was permitted in some cases from 1973 onward. Despite this, these laws were rarely enforced, and sex-selective abortion became widespread following advancements in ultrasound technology. In many Asian societies, it was often preferred to have male children as they were viewed as being better long-term providers for their parents and they would carry on the family name. In South Korea in the early 1990s, the practice of sex-selective abortion became so widespread that the gender ratio at birth was 114 males for every 100 females (reportedly as high as 125 in some cities), compared to the historical and natural average of approximately 105 males per 100 females. The government then prohibited doctors from revealing the gender of unborn babies to the parents in 1987, and introduced more severe penalties in 1994, in an attempt to revert this trend. The gender imbalance then reduced in the following decades, and has been at 106 males per 100 females since the 2010s (roughly the natural average). Abortion rights in South Korea were expanded in 2021.

Lowest in the world? Despite government initiatives aimed at increasing fertility, including financial incentives, South Korea's fertility rate has continued to fall in recent years, and today is at around half of replacement level. In 2020, it is estimated that the average woman born in South Korea will have just over one child over the course of their reproductive years. Some critics cite economic factors, such as high education and housing costs, for the reason that young couples are postponing marriage and having families; today, South Korea has the lowest adolescent fertility rate, and the lowest overall fertility rate in the Asia Pacific region. Due to the current trajectory of South Korea's fertility rate, in January 2021, it was announced that the South Korean population experienced a natural decline for the first time in it's history.

In 2023, the number of births in South Korea stood at 230,028, recording the lowest figure during the given period. Around two decades earlier, this number was twice as high. Declining fertility in South Korea A phenomenon that most East Asian countries and territories grapple with is a stark decline in fertility rates. This is especially evident in South Korea, which has the lowest fertility rate in the world, far below the 2.1 children per woman threshold that represents replacement fertility. In response to the expected economic consequences of a declining population, South Korea has implemented various initiatives to encourage married couples to have children. Factors contributing to low birth rates in South Korea One major element is the societal change in attitudes toward childbirth. In a survey, half of South Korean respondents asserted that marriages can be happy without children, and a sizeable share also stated that having children was dependent on economic factors. In addition, an increasing number of South Koreans are choosing not to get married – In 2023, South Korea recorded one of the lowest numbers of marriages in its history. Furthermore, there has been a growing trend among South Korean women to prioritize their financial independence and career continuity over traditional childbearing expectations.

This data package includes the underlying data to replicate the charts and calculations presented in Migration or stagnation: Aging and economic growth in Korea today, the world tomorrow, PIIE Working Paper 24-18.

If you use the data, please cite as:

Clemens, Michael. 2024. Migration or stagnation: Aging and economic growth in Korea today, the world tomorrow. PIIE Working Paper 24-18. Washington: Peterson Institute for International Economics.

South Korea rural population for 2023 was 9,589,588, a 0.08% decline from 2022.

<ul style='margin-top:20px;'>

<li>South Korea rural population for 2022 was <strong>9,597,146</strong>, a <strong>0.26% decline</strong> from 2021.</li>
<li>South Korea rural population for 2021 was <strong>9,621,887</strong>, a <strong>0.13% decline</strong> from 2020.</li>
<li>South Korea rural population for 2020 was <strong>9,634,283</strong>, a <strong>0.22% increase</strong> from 2019.</li>
</ul>Rural population refers to people living in rural areas as defined by national statistical offices. It is calculated as the difference between total population and urban population. Aggregation of urban and rural population may not add up to total population because of different country coverages.

In 2021, there were 11.6 births per 1,000 people in Northern Ireland, compared with eleven in the previous year. Between 2000 and 2008, Northern Ireland's birth rate increased from 12.8 to 14.4 but started to decline gradually until 2012 when it dropped from 13.9 to 13.3 in just one year. During this provided time period, the birth rate in Northern Ireland was highest in 1971, when it was 20.6 and was at its lowest in 2020 when there were just eleven births per 1,000 people. Falling birth rates in the UK For the United Kingdom as a whole, the birth rate fell to 10.2 births per 1,000 people in 2020, before a slight uptick to 10.4 in 2021. After a postwar peak of 18.8 births per 1,000 people in 1964, the UK birth rate fell sharply to just 11.7 by 1977. Between 1977 and 2012 the birth rate fluctuated between 11.3 and 13.9, but declined in every year between 2012 and 2020. In 2021, the UK's fertility rate (the number of births per women) fell to just 1.53, compared with 2.95 in 1964. Since 1973, the UK has fallen below the minimum replacement level fertility rate of 2.1, and without immigration would likely see its population decline in the long term. Global demographic trends The considerable decline in the UK's fertility rate in recent decades is not an isolated phenomenon. As of 2024, Africa was, at 4.12, the only continent to have a fertility rate higher than the global average of 2.31. Several countries, mainly in East Asia and Europe, have far lower fertility rates than the UK or the global average, however. South Korea provides the most dramatic example of this trend, with its fertility rate falling from 6.33 in 1960 to just 1.11 by 2020. By the 2080s, it is expected that, as Africa's fertility rate converges with the rest of the world, the global population will peak at around 10.4 billion and start to decline.

We aimed to investigate the relationship between pesticide exposure and cognitive decline in a rural South Korean population. From July 2015 to December 2017, 200 randomly selected Korean Farmers Cohort study participants were recruited and of these, 169 participants were analyzed. Pesticide exposure was investigated using a standardized questionnaire, and the Korean-Montreal Cognitive Assessment (K-MoCA) was conducted. Cognitive decline was more frequent among those directly exposed to pesticides (P = 0.057). Pesticide exposure and cognitive decline were positively correlated in the group with direct exposure versus no exposure (crude odds ratio [OR], 2.66; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.17–6.04); this relationship was insignificant after adjustment (adjusted OR, 1.50; 95% CI, 0.57–3.92). There was a significant difference in the K-MoCA scores for each group based on pesticide exposure (P = 0.003). When we stratified by age, differences in the K-MoCA scores depending on the degree of pesticide exposure in the those aged 60 to 69 years were identified. Overall, there was a tendency towards an association between pesticide exposure and cognitive decline in rural Korean adult farmers. In our study, chronic pesticide exposure tended to have a greater impact in certain age group (60–69 years) than in those under 60 and over 70.

In 2024, the population of South Korea was estimated to be about 51.75 million. The population of North Korea was approximately 25.87 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, not only politically but also 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 2,401 trillion South Korean won in 2023, only about 40 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 860,000 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.

In 2024, the number of marriages in South Korea reached 193,657. The trend of shunning marriage has been particularly noticeable in recent years, with the number of marriages drastically decreasing by over 40 percent compared to ten years ago. Changing perceptions of marriage An increasing number of people in South Korea, particularly women, are choosing not to get married. According to a survey, only around 37 percent of women saw marriage as a necessity, compared to almost 60 percent of men. The most common reasons for not getting married were lacking financial resources and simply not seeing the need for it. Demographic challenges With more people remaining single and not having children, the birth rate in South Korea has dropped to the lowest in the world, reaching a record low of 0.72 births per woman in 2023. The government has tried to tackle the problem of population decline and aging through various measures, but so far, with little success.

The "population cliff," a sharp and significant decline in population, threatens the sustainability of many East Asian countries, particularly South Korea. This demographic crisis necessitates increased female labor participation and higher birth rates. However, East Asian women face unique challenges in balancing parenting and professional roles, with potential psychological consequences inadequately addressed by predominantly Western-focused research on workplace maternity. To bridge this critical gap, we propose a comparative study on maternity in Eastern and Western contexts. Grounded in intersectionality theory (Crenshaw, 1989, 1991), the study investigates the interplay between gender (male vs. female), parent status (parents vs. non-parents), and cultural background (Korean vs. American) on work-family identity integration. We hypothesize that because of unique societal expectations and internalized maternity bias, gender and parent status will interact to influence work-family identity integration, with mothers showing particularly lower work-family identity integration. We further posit that this effect will be more pronounced in Korea due to its societal and cultural context, which increases the cost of motherhood. Additionally, we will investigate whether lower identity integration among mothers, particularly in Korea, leads to higher feelings of guilt and explore the potential consequences of guilt on mother employees' employment intentions, childbearing decisions, and overall well-being. This study aims to integrate and expand the literature on work-family dynamics, bicultural identity integration, and guilt, offering practical insights to enhance the sustainability of low-fertility countries and advance gender equality in global societies.

In 2021, the school-age population in South Korea comprises 7.64 million people. This is a sharp decline from the 1980 population of 14.4 million. It is expected that this trend of decline will continue, with projection of the 2060 school-age population comprising of only 4.19 million people.

In 2024, Seoul had the highest population density of all provinces in South Korea, with about ****** people per square kilometer. The port city of Busan, which lies 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, followed with about ***** residents per square kilometer. With 90 people per square kilometer, Gangwon was the province with the lowest population density. Population of Seoul The capital of South Korea, Seoul, is the country's largest city with a population of nearly 9.5 million people, meaning that about 20 percent of South Korea's total population live in Seoul. Together with the surrounding Gyeonggi Province and Incheon Metropolitan Area, the greater Seoul region (or Seoul Capital Area) is home to half of the total population of South Korea. This region also forms one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world. Solving the problem of overpopulation in Seoul One of the major problems stemming from overpopulation in Seoul is the housing shortage, leading to a significant surge in real estate prices. Over the past few years, several efforts have been made to curb the excessive population concentration and to solve the associated economic and social problems. In 2007, for example, former President Roh Moo-hyun attempted to move the country's administrative capital to Sejong, which is located 120 kilometers south of Seoul. Although the grand plan did not fully work out, around 40 central administrative agencies have since been moved from Seoul to Sejong, turning the city into the de facto administrative capital of South Korea.

Abstract

The third wave of the Asian Barometer survey (ABS) conducted in 2010 and the database contains nine countries and regions in East Asia - the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Mongolia, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea. The ABS is an applied research program on public opinion on political values, democracy, and governance around the region. The regional network encompasses research teams from 13 East Asian political systems and 5 South Asian countries. Together, this regional survey network covers virtually all major political systems in the region, systems that have experienced different trajectories of regime evolution and are currently at different stages of political transition.

The mission and task of each national research team are to administer survey instruments to compile the required micro-level data under a common research framework and research methodology to ensure that the data is reliable and comparable on the issues of citizens' attitudes and values toward politics, power, reform, and democracy in Asia.

The Asian Barometer Survey is headquartered in Taipei and co-hosted by the Institute of Political Science, Academia Sinica and The Institute for the Advanced Studies of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Taiwan University.

Geographic coverage

13 East Asian political systems: Japan, Mongolia, South Koreas, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia; 5 South Asian countries: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal

Analysis unit

-Individuals

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Compared with surveys carried out within a single nation, cross-nation survey involves an extra layer of difficulty and complexity in terms of survey management, research design, and database modeling for the purpose of data preservation and easy analysis. To facilitate the progress of the Asian Barometer Surveys, the survey methodology and database subproject is formed as an important protocol specifically aiming at overseeing and coordinating survey research designs, database modeling, and data release.

As a network of Global Barometer Surveys, Asian Barometer Survey requires all country teams to comply with the research protocols which Global Barometer network has developed, tested, and proved practical methods for conducting comparative survey research on public attitudes.

Research Protocols:

• National probability samples that give every citizen in each country an equal chance of being selected for interview. Whether using census household lists or a multistage area approach, the method for selecting sampling units is always randomized. The samples may be stratified, or weights applied, to ensure coverage of rural areas and minority populations in their correct proportions. As such, Asian Barometer samples represent the adult, voting-age population in each country surveyed.

A model Asian Barometer Survey has a sample size of 1,200 respondents, which allows a minimum confidence interval of plus or minus 3 percent at 95 percent probability.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

A standard questionnaire instrument containing a core module of identical or functionally equivalent questions. Wherever possible, theoretical concepts are measured with multiple items in order to enable testing for construct validity. The wording of items is determined by balancing various criteria, including: the research themes emphasized in the survey, the comprehensibility of the item to lay respondents, and the proven effectiveness of the item when tested in previous surveys.

Survey Topics: 1.Economic Evaluations: What is the economic condition of the nation and your family: now, over the last five years, and in the next five years? 2.Trust in institutions: How trustworthy are public institutions, including government branches, the media, the military, and NGOs. 3.Social Capital: Membership in private and public groups, the frequency and degree of group participation, trust in others, and influence of guanxi. 4.Political Participatio: Voting in elections, national and local, country-specific voting patterns, and active participation in the political process as well as demonstrations and strikes. Contact with government and elected officials, political organizations, NGOs and media. 5.Electoral Mobilization: Personal connections with officials, candidates, and political parties; influence on voter choice. 6.Psychological Involvement and Partisanship: Interest in political news coverage, impact of government policies on daily life, and party allegiance. 7.Traditionalism: Importance of consensus and family, role of the elderly, face, and woman in theworkplace. 8.Democratic Legitimacy and Preference for Democracy: Democratic ranking of present and previous regime, and expected ranking in the next five years; satisfaction with how democracy works, suitability of democracy; comparisons between current and previous regimes, especially corruption; democracy and economic development, political competition, national unity, social problems, military government, and technocracy. 9.Efficacy, Citizen Empowerment, System Responsiveness: Accessibility of political system: does a political elite prevent access and reduce the ability of people to influence the government. 10.Democratic vs. Authoritarian Values: Level of education and political equality, government leadership and superiority, separation of executive and judiciary. 11.Cleavage: Ownership of state-owned enterprises, national authority over local decisions, cultural insulation, community and the individual. 12.Belief in Procedural Norms of Democracy: Respect of procedures by political leaders: compromise, tolerance of opposing and minority views. 13.Social-Economic Background Variables: Gender, age, marital status, education level, years of formal education, religion and religiosity, household, income, language and ethnicity. 14.Interview Record: Gender, age, class, and language of the interviewer, people present at the interview; did the respondent: refuse, display impatience, and cooperate; the language or dialect spoken in interview, and was an interpreter present.

Cleaning operations

Quality checks are enforced at every stage of data conversion to ensure that information from paper returns is edited, coded, and entered correctly for purposes of computer analysis. Machine readable data are generated by trained data entry operators and a minimum of 20 percent of the data is entered twice by independent teams for purposes of cross-checking. Data cleaning involves checks for illegal and logically inconsistent values.

General characteristics of study population.

In 1800, it is estimated that approximately 4.35 million people lived in the region of present-day North Korea. This figure would remain stagnant through much of the 19th century, increasing by just one million people over the next 110 years. The dissolution of the Joseon dynasty in the Korean peninsula in the late-1800s marked the end of centuries of Korean isolationism, and the new Korean Empire then opened itself to foreign trade and influence. By the start of the 20th century, the region of North Korea had a population of just over five million. This growth would increase dramatically following the annexation of the Korean peninsula by Japan in 1910, as extensive industrialization and modernization efforts would result in the population of North Korea doubling from just over five million at the turn of the century, to over ten and a half million by the start of the Korean War in 1950. The Korean War Following Japan's defeat in the Second World War, the Korean Peninsula was split along the 38th parallel, with a Soviet-backed totalitarian government established in the north, and a U.S.-backed authoritarian government in the south. Neither government recognized the legitimacy of the other, and an escalation of tensions saw the North invade the South in June 1950. By 1953, the North's population dropped below ten million. It is estimated that there were approximately three million total fatalities in the war, with North Korea having the largest share of fatalities of all forces involved; however, the North's isolationist and secretive policies have made it difficult to calculate the full impact of the war on the North's population. Most modern estimates suggest that more than 1.5 million North Koreans died or went missing over these three years. Following the establishment of an armistice between North and South Korea in 1953, the population of the newly-formed Democratic People's Republic of North Korea would begin to rise sharply, from 10 million at the time of armistice to almost 15 million in 1970, just twenty years later. North Korea today North Korea's population has increased in each year since the war's end, however, the rate of growth decreased in the late 1970s, as a severe economic crisis and a resulting lack of foreign technology would lead to a scaling back of many of social welfare programs for the country’s citizens. Growth would slow even further following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, as the loss of Soviet foreign aid would send the North Korean economy into a sharp decline. In the 1990s, a series of flooding, droughts, famine and economic mismanagement led to the deaths of between 500,000 to 600,000* North Koreans. Recent years have seen an improvement in political relations between both the North and South, and even sporadic improvements with the U.S., which could lead to a less-isolated North Korea in the future; however, the continued testing of nuclear weapons and allegations of widespread human rights violations have drawn widespread criticism from the international community. In 2020, it is estimated that approximately 25.8 million people reside in North Korea.

In 2024, the youth in South Korea made up about 7.8 million of the total population. This shows a sharp decline since 1980, where the youth population stood at 14 million. It is projected that the youth population will continue to decline, and this group will only represent 4.1 million people of the total population in 2060.

The statistic shows the 20 countries with the lowest fertility rates in 2024. All figures are estimates. In 2024, the fertility rate in Taiwan was estimated to be at 1.11 children per woman, making it the lowest fertility rate worldwide. Fertility rate The fertility rate is the average number of children born per woman of child-bearing age in a country. Usually, a woman aged between 15 and 45 is considered to be in her child-bearing years. The fertility rate of a country provides an insight into its economic state, as well as the level of health and education of its population. Developing countries usually have a higher fertility rate due to lack of access to birth control and contraception, and to women usually foregoing a higher education, or even any education at all, in favor of taking care of housework. Many families in poorer countries also need their children to help provide for the family by starting to work early and/or as caretakers for their parents in old age. In developed countries, fertility rates and birth rates are usually much lower, as birth control is easier to obtain and women often choose a career before becoming a mother. Additionally, if the number of women of child-bearing age declines, so does the fertility rate of a country. As can be seen above, countries like Hong Kong are a good example for women leaving the patriarchal structures and focusing on their own career instead of becoming a mother at a young age, causing a decline of the country’s fertility rate. A look at the fertility rate per woman worldwide by income group also shows that women with a low income tend to have more children than those with a high income. The United States are neither among the countries with the lowest, nor among those with the highest fertility rate, by the way. At 2.08 children per woman, the fertility rate in the US has been continuously slightly below the global average of about 2.4 children per woman over the last decade.