Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.
Over 4,000 schools shut down nationwide as student numbers plunge
A woman walks past Hwayang Elementary School in Seoul, in this Jan. 4, 2024, file photo. The school shut down in 2023 due to a lack of new students. Newsis
By Jung Min-ho
More than 4,000 elementary, middle and high schools across Korea have shut their doors as the country’s student population shrinks, new data shows.
According to the Ministry of Education’s latest figures, revealed on Sunday by Rep. Jin Sun-mee of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, since 1980, 4,008 schools under 17 regional education offices nationwide have closed as of March this year. During the period, the number of enrolled students decreased from 9.9 million to 5.07 million.
Elementary schools account for the majority of closures, with 3,674 shut down permanently, compared with 264 middle schools and 70 high schools. Over the past five years alone, 158 schools have closed, and an additional 107 schools are projected to shut down over the next five years.
Korea’s birthrate ― the lowest in the world with the total fertility rate remaining below 0.8 ― is the chief reason behind this contraction. The pace of closures also suggests that enrollment decline is expected to accelerate in provincial regions rather than in the capital area.
The largest number of closures are in North Jeolla Province with 16 schools, followed by South Jeolla Province (15), Gyeonggi Province (12) and South Chungcheong Province (11).
The country’s broader demographic outlook suggests that the contraction will only intensify in the coming years, if not decades. The state‑run Korean Educational Development Institute estimates that the number of elementary, middle and high school students stands at about 5.07 million this year and is projected to decrease to roughly 4.25 million by 2029 — a drop of more than 800,000 pupils in just six years.
The ministry data also reveal serious gaps in how closed school sites are being managed. Of the 4,008 schools that have been shut down, 376 remain unused. Among them, 266 have been left idle for more than a decade, and 82 have sat abandoned for over 30 years.
According to the lawmaker’s office, the figures suggest that follow‑up management and reuse of former school facilities are lagging behind the speed of closures, which raises concerns about wasted public assets.
“A considerable number of schools have already closed, and this will continue as student numbers decline,” Jin said. “We must not stop at simply shutting schools down, but instead develop a long‑term road map to repurpose them as assets for local communities.”