Child care centers close, senior homes open as Korea's population declines

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By Lee Hae-rin

Over the past five years, Korea has witnessed the establishment of 13,000 new senior welfare centers, while around 10,000 child care centers have closed down, thus, reflecting the country's aging demographics and plummeting birthrate, recent government statistics show.

According to the report released by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Friday, the number of senior welfare facilities across the country stood at 89,643 and served 364,116 people last year. This is a substantial increase from 2017, when there were 76,371 facilities catering to 144,650 individuals, marking increases of 17 percent and 66 percent, respectively.

These senior welfare facilities include sanatoriums, centers offering visiting care services, protection of seniors and job recruitment agencies that help find jobs for those who are 65 or older.

The growing number of these facilities is a response to the country's sharp rise in people who are 65 or over, which has increased from 7.35 million in 2017 to 9.26 million last year.

At the same time, the country has seen a significant decrease in the number of child care centers due to the declining fertility rate.

The health ministry's latest statistics from 2022 show that 9,315 nurseries shut down, lowering the number of child care centers across the country to just 30,923 last year from 40,238 in 2017.

Korea's birthrate hit a record low last year, with an average of only 0.78 newborns expected per woman, which is significantly lower than the OECD average of between 1.3 and 1.9 children per woman.

According to Statistics Korea's latest population report, 372,800 people died in Korea while only 249,000 were born last year, marking the third straight year of population decline.