In 2072, South Korea Will Become the Third Oldest Country in the World

According to the ”2022 Future Population Projections for the World and South Korea“ released by the Statistics Korea, it is forecasted that in 2072, South Korea will have the third largest population of people aged 65 and older in the world. Currently, South Korea ranks 45th globally in terms of the elderly population ratio, but it is expected to rank third after Hong Kong (58.5%) and Puerto Rico (50.8%) by 2072.

In addition, the total population and the working-age population (aged 15-64) are predicted to continue declining. Additionally, it is projected that South Korea’s total population will decrease from 52 million in 2024 to 36 million in 2072, which is in stark contrast to the global population, expected to grow from 8.16 billion in 2024 to 10.22 billion in 2072.

Meanwhile, the total fertility rate, representing the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime, is also on a downward trend in South Korea. South Korea‘s total fertility rate was 0.72 in 2023, a decrease of 3.81 (-84.1%) from 4.53 in 1970.

Data from Statistics Korea via DongA Ilbo

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