The number of people engaged in agriculture marked 2.75 million as of December 2014, showing a decline from 2.84 million in 2013 and over 3 million in 2010, according to Statistics Korea.

Their number accounts for 5.5 percent of the entire population.

Among them, 1.3 million are men and 1.4 million are women. About 27.9 percent were over 70 years old, followed by 60-somethings marking 21.9 percent and 50-somethings with 19.6 percent. The aging ratio ― people over 65 years old ― was 39.1 percent in the agricultural industry, about three times that of the general population.

The number of families in the agricultural industry was 1.12 million, with half of them consisting of two members. But 16.6 percent had only one member.