By Yoon Ja-young
Staff Reporter
The country's age index has grown by eight times since 1955. Meanwhile, the agricultural and fisheries industry, which represented nearly half of total industry in the 1950s, plunged to a mere 2.5 percent.
Statistics Korea released a number of revealing socioeconomic statistics from the 1950s, Friday.
The statistics, more than anything else, highlight the rapid aging of the country. In 1955, for example, the country's total population stood at 21.5 million. Among them, those aged between one and 14 made up 41.2 percent of the total population, while those aged 65 or older made up 3.3 percent.
As of 2009, the total population has more than doubled to 48.7 million. But the ratio of children has fallen to 16.8 percent and that of senior citizens has jumped to 10.7 percent. The ratio of the elderly to the total population has increased about 3.3 times during the period.
This means the country's aging index, or its ratio of senior citizens to children, has grown by almost eight times to 63.5 percent from 8 percent in 1955. The index stood at 34.3 percent in 2000, reflecting that the country has been aging more steeply of late.
The statistics also highlighted that school conditions have improved significantly. In 1956, for example, elementary school teachers were in charge of an average of 58.9 students. Today, there are only 19.8 students per teacher.
They also showed a changing industrial landscape. In 1953, the agricultural and fisheries industry took up 45.5 percent of the country's total, followed by services at 41.3 percent. Mining and manufacturing made up only 10.3 percent of commerce at the time.
The numbers for 2008, meanwhile, show that manufacturing and mining accounted for 28.3 percent of business here ― services took up 60.3 percent.
The country has also seen its amount of land increase, through projects such as land reclamation and drainage. The country's total area was 96,929 square kilometers in 1954, but it grew by 3.3 percent to 100,140 square kilometers last year.
Included in the statistics were losses from the Korean War. The tragic war took 990,000 lives.