Korea’s total population came in at 50.6 million in 2015, with its demographic profile shifting toward one that has more old people and fewer children, according to a government report Wednesday.

The report by Statistics Korea noted that out of every 100 Koreans, 13 are aged 65 or older while another 14 are 14 years old or younger. Sixty are working, 70 have never given donations while 70 spend their free time flipping through TV channels. 


The population is projected to peak at 52.1 million in 2030 and then fall to 51 million by 2040. The median age, in the meantime, will rise from 40.8 in 2015 to 52.6 in 2040.

“Population growth is on a downward trend since 2010, with the annual growth rate reaching 0.38 percent in 2015. From the year 2031 onward, Korea will see a negative growth,” the state-run agency said.

As of 2015, there were around 6 million people aged 65 or older alive in Korea. It accounted for 13.1 percent of the total population, slightly below the 13.9 percent share of the 1-14 age group. This, however, is projected to change soon.

“Due to falling birth rates and growing lifespan, Korea’s population structure will shift toward one that is thicker in older ages,” the statistics agency said.

By 2060, every 100 working age Koreans will provide for 80.6 persons aged 65 or older, a more than fourfold increase from the current 17.9.

Wednesday’s data offered a broad snapshot of the Korean society, such as the social status of women.

By headcount, women accounted for almost exactly half of the total population, projected to soon outnumber men.

Also, nearly half of all working-age women in Korea have jobs, compared to their male peers’ 71 percent employment rate. The gender gap in employment continued to decline from 22.4 percent in 2012 to 21.2 percent in 2015.

The average age of first marriage is 32.4 for men and 29.8 for women, up 1.5 years and 2.1 years, respectively, from a decade ago. The age of mothers at the birth of their first child was 31.2 in 2015, up from 30.1 in 2010.

Koreans get an average 4 hours and 28 minutes of free time a day and mostly spend them in front of TV. Only 26 percent of those surveyed said they were satisfied with the way they spend their leisure time.

Only 29.9 percent of Koreans were a donor at least once in their lifetime. The ratio is down from 36.4 percent in 2011. Economic difficulty was cited as the top reason for the decline.

The student-teacher ratios declined across primary, middle and high schools. Elementary schools, in particular, saw the sharpest fall from 28.7 students per teacher in 2000 to 14.9 in 2015.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)