South Korea's Domestic Population Falls Below 50 Million... Total Population Declines for Two Consecutive Years for the First Time

2022 Population and Housing Census Results
Capital Region Population 26.12 Million 50.5%
Elderly Population 9.046 Million 18%
Single-Person Households 7.5 Million Record High...4.7% Increase

The total population of South Korea has decreased for the first time in history for two consecutive years. This is the first time since the 1949 survey conducted after the establishment of the South Korean government that the population has experienced negative growth for two consecutive years. Last year, the number of single-person households surpassed 7.5 million for the first time, and the elderly population aged 65 and over also reached a record high of 9.05 million.

According to the "2022 Population and Housing Census Results" announced by Statistics Korea on the 27th, as of November last year, the total population was 51.69 million, a 0.1% decrease (-50,000 people) compared to the previous year. The number of Korean nationals residing in Korea was 49.94 million (96.6%), a 0.3% decrease (-148,000 people) during the same period, while the foreign population was 1.75 million (3.4%), an increase of 6.2% (102,000 people). However, compared to 2019, when the foreign population was at its highest, it decreased by 27,000 (-1.5%).

The average annual population growth rate was -0.1% last year, marking negative growth for two consecutive years since 2021. The population growth rate has steadily declined from an average of 3.0% in 1960. Since 1995, it has fallen below 1%, but continued positive growth until 2020, before recording negative population growth in 2021.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The population of the Seoul metropolitan area was 26.124 million, accounting for 50.5% of the total population. This means more than one in two people live in the metropolitan area. The population of Gyeonggi Province increased by 26.5% to 13.718 million, while the population of Seoul decreased by 0.6% to 9.417 million. The regions with the highest population growth rates compared to the previous year were Sejong (4.5%), Incheon (1.1%), and Chungnam (0.8%), while the regions with the highest population decline rates were Ulsan, Daegu, and Busan, each decreasing by 0.9%.

Last year, the elderly population aged 65 and over was 9.046 million, an increase of 4.9% (426,000 people) compared to the previous year. The proportion of the elderly population in the total population was 18.1%, up 11.7 percentage points from 2020. The proportion of elderly people aged 65 and over was highest in rural areas at 34.2%, which is 2.1 times higher than the elderly ratio in urban areas (16.3%). As the elderly population increases, the burden of support is also rising. Last year, the dependency ratio of youth supported per 100 working-age people was 16.0, a decrease of 0.5 compared to the previous year, while the elderly dependency ratio increased by 1.4 to 24.9. The aging index was 156.1, an increase of 48.8 compared to 107.3 in 2017.

Single-person households reached a record high of 7.502 million, an increase of 4.7%. The total number of households was 22.383 million, increasing by only 1.6% during the same period, but the increase in single-person households was 3.1 percentage points higher. By age group, single-person households were most common among those under 20 (19.2%), those in their 30s (17.3%), and those in their 60s (16.7%). Among men, the highest proportion was in their 30s (22.0%), while among women, it was under 20 (18.9%). By region, Daejeon had the highest proportion of single-person households at 38.5%, while Ulsan and Gyeonggi recorded the lowest at 30.2%. The average household size in South Korea was 2.25 persons, a decrease of 0.04 persons compared to the previous year.

Multicultural households numbered 399,000, an increase of 3.7% compared to the previous year. Specifically, naturalized citizen households accounted for 42.8%, marriage immigrant households 37.2%, multicultural children households 11.1%, and others 8.9%. The nationalities of multicultural subjects were highest for China (Korean descent) at 32.3%, Vietnam at 21.8%, and China at 19.0%, in that order.

Last year, the total number of houses was 19.16 million, an increase of 1.8% compared to the previous year. Detached houses numbered 3.86 million, a 0.3% decrease compared to the previous year, while apartment buildings numbered 15.08 million, a 2.4% increase. Apartments accounted for 64.0% of total housing with 12.27 million units, a net increase of 2.7% compared to the previous year.

Kim Seo-young, head of the Population Census Division at Statistics Korea, analyzed, "While births continue to decline, deaths have increased, leading to natural population decrease. We believe the impact of COVID-19 lasted until 2021, and as deaths increased mainly among the elderly, natural decrease was significant."

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