SEOUL: The number of young South Koreans is forecast to halve in 30 years amid a rapid aging trend and a record low birthrate, the statistics agency said Monday.
The number of people aged 19-34 was 10.21 million in 2020, and the figure is forecast to tumble to 5.21 million in 2050, Yonhap news agency cited the analysis by Statistics Korea.
The proportion of the young population in the country’s total stood at 20.4 per cent in 2020. However, it is expected to decline to 11 per cent by 2050, it added.
The number of young people has been on a steady decline over the past decades from 13.85 million in 1990 to 12.88 million in 2000, 10.97 million in 2010 and 10.21 million in 2020.
The rate of unmarried people in the age group had risen over the past decades.
In 2020, 7.84 million young people were unmarried, accounting for 81.5 per cent of the total population of the age bracket.
The proportion was 54.5 per cent in 2000 and grew to 68.9 per cent in 2010, the data showed.
South Korea saw a sharp increase in the number of economically active young women, with the rate of female workers jumping from 42.3 per cent in 2000 to 61.1 per cent in 2020.
The country’s total fertility rate -- the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime -- came to a record low of around 0.7 in 2023.–Bernama-Yonhap
