South Korea

February 23, 2007

In South Korea’s southern county of Imsil, North Jeolla Province, the number of residents 65 and over is the highest in any area nationwide. As of 2005, of Imsil’s total population of 25,682, a full 33.8 percent, or 8,671 persons, were aged 65 and over.

The number of people aged 65 and over in Imsil has increased by about 1,000 in the five years leading up to and including 2005, while the total population of the area fell by 50,000 during that period, as younger residents headed for the nation’s cities. This translates into a jump of 10 percentage points of the population aged 65 or older.

As of 2005, there are 14 counties in Korea, such as Uiseong of North Gyeongsang Province and Uiryeong of South Gyeongsang Province, with more than 30 percent of their population 65 or older. In all of the nation’s rural areas on average, only 18.6 percent of the population belongs to this age group, and South Korea’s overall average has 9.1 percent of the population falling into this age demographic.

In particular, households both located in rural areas and engaged in agriculture showed an aging rate faster than the national average. According to a report released on February 22 by the National Statistical Office, the number of people aged 65 and over in these households stood at a record 30.8 percent as of December 1, 2006 . This is a 1.7 percentage point increase from the prior year’s figure. Given this data, South Korea’s rural homes engaged in agriculture comprise a so-called "ultra-aging society," when the proportion of people aged 65 and over encompasses over 20 percent of the total population.

The number of households in South Korea’s rural areas stood at 1.24 million as of 2006, down 2.2 percent from a year earlier. In addition, the number of households engaged in agriculture nationwide totaled 3.3 million, down 3.8 percent from the year prior. The population employed in agriculture accounted for 6.8 percent of South Korea’s total, a decline of 0.3 percent from the year before.

As of 2005, 34.9 percent of males in their 30s living in rural areas remained unmarried, compared with a nationwide average of 21.6 percent.

Among households working in agriculture, those involved in raising livestock fared better than in other agricultural sectors, as 30.6 percent of households in this group made over 50 million won (US$54,000) in sales during 2006, followed by those engaged in vegetable farming (24.0 percent) and those raising rice (19.3 percent).

Meanwhile, the number of people engaging in the fishery industry stood at 211,610 as of 2006, down 4.3 percent from a year ago. Among the population involved in this industry, those aged 65 and over comprised 20.2 percent, up 1.4 percent from the year prior, according to the data.

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