Lee Hae-rin is a City Desk reporter at The Korea Times, covering social issues, tourism and taekwondo. She is passionate about speaking up for the rights of minorities, including women, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities and animals as well as discovering the latest makgeolli trend in town. Feel free to reach her at lhr@koreatimes.co.kr.
Grade 1 enrollment falls below 300,000 for 1st time as Korea's population shrinks
First graders look around a classroom during new student orientation at Ujang Elementary School in Seoul, Jan. 6. Yonhap
By Lee Hae-rin
For the first time, fewer than 300,000 children are expected to enter first grade in Korea this year, underscoring the effects of the country’s persistently low birthrate on its education system.
According to the Ministry of Education’s revised projection report, released Tuesday, an estimated 298,178 children are expected to start first grade this year.
The ministry had earlier projected that first grade enrollment would fall below 300,000 in 2027. But officials said that recent shifts in birthrates and school attendance as well as overall population decline now make it likely that the threshold will be crossed this year.
The rapid decline in the number of first graders reflects the steep drop in school-age population over the past two decades.
Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI) data shows that the number of first graders dropped below 700,000 in 2000, down from 713,500 in 1999. The figure fell even faster after 2008, plummeting from 534,816 in 2008 to 468,233 a year later. In recent years, the pace of decline has accelerated again from 401,752 in 2023 to 353,713 in 2024 and 324,040 last year.
Compared to 2023, this year’s predicted number of incoming first graders marks a drop of roughly 25.8 percent — a decline of more than 100,000 students in just three years. The ministry projects that enrollment will continue to fall, to 277,674 in 2027, 262,309 in 2028 and 232,268 in 2030, before reaching 220,471 by 2031 — just over two-thirds of last year’s total.
The total number of elementary, middle and high school students nationwide is also expected to fall below 5 million this year, from 5.01 million in 2025 to 4.84 million in 2026. The figure is forecast to shrink to 3.81 million by 2031.
The shrinking student population has already forced some schools, particularly in rural regions, to close due lack of students, while universities outside the Seoul metropolitan area are likewise struggling to fill freshmen quotas.
This demographic shift is directly triggering a recruitment cliff for educators. For this year, the planned recruitment of new public elementary school teachers has been slashed by some 27 percent to 3,113 nationwide.