March Domestic Population Movement Drops 20.1% Year-on-Year... Impact of Decreased Housing Transactions

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[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Son Seon-hee] Last month, domestic population movement in South Korea amounted to 580,000, marking the lowest level in 47 years. This is analyzed to be due to the progressing population aging and a decrease in housing sales and scheduled move-in volumes.

According to the 'March Domestic Population Movement' report released by Statistics Korea on the 27th, the number of domestic movers in March was 587,000, a 20.1% decrease compared to the same month last year (735,000). The number of population movements has been decreasing for 15 consecutive months since January last year (compared to the same month of the previous year). When comparing only March figures, last month's movement was the lowest in 47 years since March 1975 (554,000).

Statistics Korea cited the long-term trend of population aging and the decrease in housing sales and scheduled apartment move-ins in March as the background. The proportion of people in their 20s and 30s, who tend to move relatively frequently, has decreased, while the proportion of those aged 60 and over, who tend to stay in one place, has increased, leading to a continuous decline in population movement. It is also believed that the total domestic population turning to natural decrease since 2020 has had an impact.

Among domestic movers in March, 62.2% moved within the same city or province, while 37.8% moved between cities or provinces. Compared to the same period last year, intra-city/province moves decreased by 23.6%, and inter-city/province moves decreased by 13.7% respectively.

By city/province, net migration (inflow minus outflow) showed net inflows in eight regions including Incheon (2,360 people), Gyeonggi (2,188 people), and Chungbuk (1,188 people). Conversely, nine regions including Gyeongnam (-2,052 people), Busan (-1,988 people), and Ulsan (-1,294 people) experienced net outflows. Seoul had a net outflow of 275 people.

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