Koreas population to decline from 2018

By Lee Hyo-sik

Korea’s population is projected to peak in 2017 and then decline the following year as women are having fewer children, raising concerns that the low birthrate and the rapidly aging population will weaken economic viability.

The nation has and will continue to become an increasingly multiracial, multicultural society, with more foreign women coming here, mostly from China and Southeast Asian countries, to marry Korean men.

Additionally, Asia’s fourth largest economy is the only country among the 32 OECD members to grapple with a rising suicide rate, with one individual taking his or her own life every 40 minutes. Particularly, a growing number of senior citizens are committing suicide, largely due to financial difficulties after retirement.

The Korea Social Science Data Archive (KOSSDA) unveiled these and other statistics Wednesday in a report titled ``Korea’s Social Trends in 2009.’’

It projected that Korea’s population and workforce will begin to ebb within the next 10 years because of rapidly falling birthrates. The population will start heading downward from 2018. In 2050, the population will likely drop by 13.1 percent to 42.34 million.

Korea’s birthrate has remained one of the world’s lowest levels over the past 10 years as more Korean men and women became reluctant to tie the knot and have babies.

The birthrate, or the average number of babies expected per woman aged 15-49, hit an all-time low of 1.08 in 2005 but rebounded to 1.25 in 2007 and 1.19 in 2008. The annual average birthrate is projected to stand at 1.13 from 2005 through 2010, lower than the OECD average of 1.64.

``Due to increasing difficulties finding a job and other uncertain economic conditions over the past decade, many young Korean men and women delayed marriage. Additionally, they have become reluctant to have babies because of surging childcare costs. As a result, Korea’s birthrates have fallen at the steepest pace in the world,’’ KOSSDA said in the report.

Coupled with the low birthrate, rising life expectancy of Koreans has turned the nation into one of the most rapidly aging societies in the world.

With more senior citizens and fewer babies here, workers aged 15-64 will have to support more elderly. Currently, every five Korean workers provide for one senior citizen. But by 2050, one employee will have to look after one senior citizen.

Meanwhile, KOSSDA said the Korean society has and will become increasingly multicultural, with a growing number of foreign women coming here to marry Korean men. But it projected it will take years for the nation to truly become a multiracial community, citing rampant social prejudice and discrimination against multicultural families and their children.

KOSSDA also said Korea’s suicide rate has been showing an upward curve over the past two decades, while other advanced countries have seen a decline in the number. In particular, senior citizens and individuals with poor education are more prone to taking their own lives.

A total of 12,858 Koreans committed suicide in 2008, meaning one person killed himself or herself every 40 minutes.

Reflecting Korea’s growing income disparity and other social problems, the number of crimes here jumped by 2.5-fold to 845,000 in 2007 from 1983.

The report also found that the majority of Koreans think society will become a more unstable and dangerous place to live in the future, citing rampant crime, economic uncertainties and environment pollution.