Rural Areas Still Aging... Aging Trend Continues

Last year, the aging trend in rural farming and fishing communities in South Korea continued. It was also found that the number of households leaving these areas increased as incomes declined.

According to the 2022 Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Survey results announced by Statistics Korea on the 19th, as of December last year, the proportion of elderly population (65 years and older) in farming, fishing, and forestry households increased by 3.8%, 3.7%, and 4.7 percentage points respectively compared to the same period the previous year. Among all households, the share of elderly population rose from 46.8% to 49.8% in farming households, from 40.5% to 44.2% in fishing households, and from 44.2% to 48.8% in forestry households.

The number of people engaged in farming, fishing, and forestry also showed a decreasing trend. The number of households engaged in agriculture, fisheries, and forestry as of last year was 1,023,000, 43,000, and 101,000 respectively, all showing a decline compared to the previous year: farming households (-0.8%), fishing households (-1.8%), and forestry households (-3.0%). The population also decreased across the board. The farming and fishing populations recorded 2,166,000 (-2.3%) and 91,000 (-3.2%) respectively. The forestry population also dropped by 4.1 percentage points from the previous year, remaining at 210,000.

Income in rural farming and fishing households also declined. Among all farming households, those with livestock and agricultural product sales under 10 million KRW increased by 1.5 percentage points compared to the previous year (63.5%). Only 3.8% of farming households recorded sales exceeding 100 million KRW, which also decreased by 0.1 percentage points from the previous year. Fishing households showed a similar pattern. Households with seafood sales under 10 million KRW rose by 0.7 percentage points from 37.3% the previous year to 38%.

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