Wanju-gun, Notable Increase in Middle-Aged Population

Published 13 Oct.2021 11:45(KST)

Over 230 Increase in 6 Months... Middle-Aged Population Share Hits Record High of 40.3% in September This Year

Wanju-gun, Notable Increase in Middle-Aged Population

[Wanju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Kim Han-ho] Wanju-gun announced on the 13th that the middle-aged population aged 40 to under 64 is showing a gradual increasing trend.

According to Wanju-gun, as of the end of September this year, the middle-aged population aged 40 to 64 is a total of 36,755 based on resident registration, which increased by about 230 people in the past six months.

The middle-aged population was only 36,482 in January last year, but has maintained a continuous slight increase since then, recently rising to the 36,700 range.

In particular, the proportion of the middle-aged population in the total population fell to 39.7% at one point in the first half of last year, then rose to 40.0% at the end of last year, and continued to rise to 40.1% in March this year and 40.2% in June this year.

In September this year, the proportion of the middle-aged population recorded 40.3%, marking an all-time high.

Wanju-gun analyzed that this is closely related to the step-by-step support being provided to help returnees to farming and rural areas settle stably.

In fact, Wanju-gun is providing various supports such as housing construction, purchase, and repair costs (up to 5 million KRW per household), farmland purchase and lease support (up to 2.5 million KRW per household), vinyl greenhouse construction costs (up to 9.6 million KRW per household), moving expenses (500,000 KRW), and education and training expenses (up to 300,000 KRW per household).

Thanks to this, in the ‘2020 Return-to-Farming and Rural Migration Statistics’ jointly announced by Statistics Korea, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, the number of households returning to farming and rural areas in Wanju-gun was recorded at a total of 3,637 households with 4,793 people, accounting for about 22% of the households returning to farming and rural areas in Jeonbuk.

A Wanju-gun official said, “Along with the increase in the middle-aged population returning to farming and rural areas, the establishment of residential conditions for those in their early 60s who have retired, the attractive local food of the urban-rural complex city, and active community activities are connected to customized lifelong education programs. We will actively strengthen lifelong learning programs in various fields for job issues and second careers for the middle-aged population to accelerate the inflow of the middle-aged population.”