Statistics Korea (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jan. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — Statistics Korea announced plans on January 21 to develop a groundbreaking Population Dynamics Panel Statistics project that will examine how economic and social factors influence marriage and childbirth decisions among different age groups.
The new study will track life events of individuals born between 1983 and 1995, analyzing how factors such as residence location, education level, income, dual-income status, and childcare support affect marriage and childbirth patterns. The research aims to inform targeted policies addressing South Korea’s low birth rate through a comprehensive analysis of both societal trends and individual characteristics.
The initiative is part of Statistics Korea’s major policy objectives for 2025, which include four core tasks: supporting economic dynamism and living stability through national statistics, expanding statistical data, establishing foundations for trusted national statistics, and enhancing statistical infrastructure and methodology.
The agency also plans to modernize its economic indicators this year. This includes updating representative items and weights to reflect changing consumer spending patterns and developing new indices for monthly rent and lease prices. To enable quicker economic assessment, the agency will introduce early-month economic indicators and launch a comprehensive private consumption index covering both goods and services.
To address welfare and inequality issues, Statistics Korea will release results of its Time Use Survey in July, examining how people spend their time throughout the day across all four seasons. The agency will also expand its analysis of pension recipients aged 60-64 and conduct studies on social isolation across age groups and young caregivers.
Regional population trends will receive particular attention, with analysis focusing on domestic migration patterns over the past 20 years, including rural population decline and concentration in the Seoul metropolitan area. The agency will investigate reasons behind the youth exodus from regions outside the capital area and publish quarterly regional GDP figures along with non-financial asset data for all 17 major administrative divisions in South Korea.
The agency also announced plans to digitize its 2025 Population and Housing Census process and conduct an agricultural census to track changes in farming technologies, aging demographics, and foreign labor employment in the agricultural sector.
To improve public access to statistics, Statistics Korea will consolidate its currently dispersed 11 statistical service portals into a single platform. The agency will also establish a quality subcommittee within the National Statistics Committee to strengthen quality control and expand development of customized classifications for 12 national strategic technologies, including advanced biotechnology.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
