What Happened in Gyeongbuk Province with a 1% Population Decline in 10 Months... 'Population Policy Grand Debate'

Policy Discussion by 8 Subgroups Inviting 40 Provincial Residents

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Dong-wook] On the 17th, Gyeongbuk Province held the '2020 2nd Population Policy Grand Debate' at the Yeongcheon Korea Polytechnic University Robot Campus to assess the effectiveness of population response projects promoted in response to changes in the population paradigm.

About 40 people attended the debate, including Lee Chun-woo, Vice Chairman of the Gyeongbuk Provincial Council's Council Operation Committee, Park Young-hwan, Vice Chairman of the Construction and Fire Committee, Yoon Seung-oh, member of the Culture and Environment Committee, Yoo Jung-geun, Director of the Population Policy Division of Gyeongbuk Province, Kim Ho-seop, Deputy Mayor of Yeongcheon, and residents.

While the grand debate held on the 4th in Yeongju was a discussion among experts related to population policy, the 2nd grand debate this time was different in that residents directly participated to discuss and suggest population policies, according to Gyeongbuk Province. Forty participants from various age groups ranging from their 20s to 50s formed eight subcommittees of five people each and conducted policy discussions by subcommittee.

Each subcommittee selected preferred policies from four topics?▲Youth and Jobs ▲Culture, Welfare, and Residential Conditions ▲Children, Childcare, and Lifelong Learning ▲Work-Life Balance?and held discussions to develop sustainable policies.

Yoo Jung-geun, Director of the Population Policy Division, said, "The population structure of Gyeongbuk is increasingly changing due to the ongoing population decline," adding, "It is very meaningful to have the Gyeongbuk-type population policy, which was promoted to overcome this environment, directly evaluated by residents on-site, to think together, and to listen to the voices of the residents."

Meanwhile, as of the end of October, the population of Gyeongsangbuk-do was 2,639,763, which has already decreased by about 26,000 compared to the end of last year. Since about 2,703,000 in 2015, the rate of decline has been increasing.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.