Population moves less in 2011

Residents of Korea moved less in 2011 than in the previous year partly due to worries about an economic downturn, a government report showed Monday.

A total of 8.12 million people changed their legal residence last year, down 99,000 or 1.2 percent from a year earlier, according to the report by Statistics Korea. This marked the fifth consecutive year of contraction.

The mobility rate -- the number of people who changed their address per 100 people -- also dropped to 16.2 percent, its lowest level since 1975, the report showed.

The downward trend is attributed partly to worries about an economic downturn, which discouraged people from moving last year.

A demographic change, caused by South Korea's aging population, also played a role, the agency said.

Those in their 20s and 30s tend to change their residence more often than other age groups as they marry or move for job opportunities but that demographic has declined in recent years, an agency official said.

Major cities also registered a net outflow of people last year.

Seoul saw its population decline with a net 113,000 people departing the nation's capital. Busan, the nation's second-largest city located in the southeastern region, tallied a net outflow of 25,000 residents.

Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi Province also saw their combined population shrink for the first time since 1970 when related data started to be compiled. The population fell 8,000 last year from a year earlier, the data showed. (Yonhap)