Elderly people gathering at Tapgol Park in central Seoul to spend their free time. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 15 (Korea Bizwire) — One third of South Koreans will be over 65 years of age by 2040, indicating that senior population will triple in proportion to the productive age population between 15 and 64 years of age, a report showed Thursday.
The country’s overall population will shrink from 51.84 million in 2020 to 50.19 million in 2040, according to the report from Statistics Korea.
With a declining birthrate and aging population, the drop in the country’s overall population is taking speed.
South Korea’s productive age population, standing at 35.83 million in 2020, is expected drop by 3.62 million people in the next 10 years. The population will shrink to 32.21 million by 2030, and 26.76 million by 2040.
The productive age population will drop in proportion to the country’s overall population, going from 71.5 percent in 2020 to 55.7 percent in 2040.
At the same time, the country’s youth population between 0 and 14 years of age will drop from 12.4 percent to 8.9 percent.
In contrast, the country’s senior population over 65 years of age will double from 8.07 million to 16.98 million over the same period, surpassing 10 million in 2025 and 15 million in 2035.
As such, the country’s senior population over 65 years of age will rise from 16.1 percent in 2020 to 35.3 percent in 2040 in proportion to the overall population, indicating that 1 in 3 South Koreans will be over 65 years of age by 2040.
The old-age dependency ratio, indicating the ratio of the senior population over 65 years of age in proportion to the productive age population, will triple from 22.5 people in 2020 to 63.4 people by 2040, which means that three people from the productive age population will be responsible for supporting two people from the senior population.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
