Jeonnam Province Launches 'Population Increase Project' Tailored to Characteristics of Each City and County

[Muan=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Yoon Jamin] Jeonnam Province has officially launched the ‘Population Increase Project’ that reflects the characteristics of each city and county.

On the 7th, the province announced that it will support a total project cost of 2 billion KRW to overcome the population decline caused by low birth rates, aging, and youth outflow.

To this end, in January, a public contest was held targeting cities and counties, and after document and expert reviews of the 12 submitted projects, 10 projects were finally selected.

The selected projects aim to remodel vacant stores and other idle facilities to support youth employment, entrepreneurship, and education, targeting the influx and settlement of about 400 young people.

Major projects by region include ▲ Suncheon City’s ‘MacGyver Shared Blacksmith Support Project’ to train young MacGyvers ▲ Boseong County’s ‘Youth Mall Creation Project’ to support entrepreneurship by creating a youth mall ▲ Gurye County’s establishment of a ‘Local Dining Creative Sharing Center’ to provide education and entrepreneurship support for young people in the food service industry.

Suncheon City’s ‘MacGyver Shared Blacksmith Support Project’ was selected for the second consecutive year following last year.

It provides living spaces within the village for young and middle-aged people under 50 and plays the role of problem solvers in the village through repair education on plumbing, electricity, etc.

Through this project, 15 people settled in Suncheon last year, and village residents showed an 87% satisfaction rate, effectively serving as a catalyst for population inflow.

Suncheon City is currently promoting the enactment of the ‘MacGyver Settlement and Support Ordinance’ to expand this as a regionally specialized project.

Yoon Yeon-hwa, Jeonnam Province’s Population and Youth Policy Officer, said, “70-80% of the population outflow in Jeonnam is youth,” adding, “We will continue to discover and expand regionally specialized population projects to support youth inflow and settlement, and are reviewing the enactment of a youth village support ordinance to establish a policy support system for youth.”

Meanwhile, since 2018, Jeonnam Province has been conducting public contests for cities and counties to overcome population issues. So far, 45 projects have been discovered, including Gwangyang’s ‘Youth Employment Support All-in-One,’ Damyang’s ‘Youth Tourism Entrepreneur Development,’ and Wando’s ‘Revitalizing Island Village Newlywed Spirit,’ encouraging local youth settlement and employment/entrepreneurship.

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