Worsening Rural Aging... 4 out of 10 People Are 65 or Older

Aging Population, Abandonment of Farming and Fishing Leading to Decline in Agricultural and Fishery Households

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] It has been found that 4 out of 10 people living in rural areas are elderly aged 65 or older. The speed of aging in rural areas is accelerating, exceeding about three times the national average due to the outflow of younger generations.

According to the "2020 Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Survey Results" announced by Statistics Korea on the 27th, as of December 1 last year, there were 1,036,000 agricultural households nationwide, with a population of 2,311,000. Compared to 2015, the number of households decreased by 53,000 (4.8%), and the population decreased by 252,000 (9.8%). During the same period, the proportion of agricultural households to the total was 5.1%, down 0.6 percentage points. The population ratio also fell by 0.5 percentage points to 4.5%.

By age group, the proportion of those aged 65 or older compared to the total population was 42.5%. This is about three times higher than the elderly research rate in Korea (15.7%). It increased by 4.1 percentage points compared to 2015. Those aged 70 or older accounted for the largest share with 682,000 people (29.4%), followed by those in their 60s with 644,000 people (27.8%).

By household type, two-person households were the most common at 51.3%, followed by one-person households (20.0%), three-person households (14.3%), and four-person households (7.8%). Compared to five years ago, one- and two-person households increased, but households with three or more people decreased. The average number of household members per agricultural household was 2.2, down 0.2 from the same period.

As of December 1 last year, fishing households numbered 43,000, a decrease of 12,000 households (20.7%) compared to five years ago. The fishing household population was 98,000, down 30,000 (23.7%) from 2015. The proportion of fishing households was 0.2% of all households in Korea, down 0.1 percentage points from five years ago. The ratio of the fishing household population to the total population was 0.2%, down 0.1 percentage points.

Looking at the fishing household population by age, those in their 60s were the largest at 30.3% (30,000 people), followed by those aged 70 or older at 22.5% (22,000 people). The proportion of fishing household population aged 65 or older was 36.2%, up 5.7 percentage points from five years ago.

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