A street parade of foreign residents in South Korea during an international festival in Seoul’s Itaewon district on Oct. 13, 2018. (image: Yongsan District Office)
SEOUL, April 14 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s total population has started to decline amid low childbirths, but the number of foreigners here is forecast to continue to increase to make up of 4.3 percent of the population in 2040, a report showed Thursday.
After peaking at 51.84 million in 2020, the country’s total population started to decline in 2021 and will likely further fall to 50.19 million in 2040, according to the report from Statistics Korea.
Despite a fall in Korean nationals, the number of foreigners who reside here for three months or longer will likely continue to increase on the back of sustained inflows of incoming foreigners.
The number of such foreigners came to 1.7 million in 2020, accounting for 3.3 percent of the total population. Their proportion is expected to hit 4 percent in 2035 and further rise to 4.3 percent five years later.
South Korea is grappling with demographic challenges from its chronically low birthrate and rapid aging.
In 2020-2025, the number of Korean nationals is expected to fall an average of 0.17 percent per year and will likely further decline 0.33 percent in 2035-2040.
On the other hand, the number of foreign residents is forecast to grow at the annual average rate of 0.29 percent in 2020-2025 and further rise 1.93 percent per year in 2025-2030, the report said.
The number of the so-called migration background population — naturalized foreigners and their children as well as foreign residents — reached 2.18 million in 2020, accounting for 4.2 percent fo the total population.
Such group of people is forecast to exceed 3 million in 2037 and rise to 3.23 million or 6.4 percent of the population in 2040, it showed.
(Yonhap)
