New data shows that South Korea is becoming a “super old” society.

Seoul, South Korea
CNN
—

South Korea has become a “super-aged” society, with one in five people aged 65 and over, according to official data on Tuesday, underscoring the country’s deepening demographic crisis.

According to new data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Security, there are 10.24 million people aged 65 and over, accounting for 20% of South Korea’s population of 51 million.

The United Nations classifies countries with more than 7% of the population aged 65 and over as “aging societies”, countries with more than 14% as “aged societies”, and those with more than 20% as “old societies”. elderly”.

South Korea struggles with a shamefully low birth rate, dropping to just 0.72 in 2023, the lowest in the world after years of recession.

Countries need a birth rate of 2.1 to maintain a stable population in the absence of immigration.

According to the latest data from the ministry, about 22 percent of women in South Korea are aged 65 or older, while the proportion of men over that age is nearly 18 percent, the interior ministry said.

The data highlight the demographic ticking time bomb South Korea and other East Asian countries face as their societies age just decades after rapid industrialization.

Many European countries are also facing an aging population, but immigration is helping them mitigate this impact. However, countries such as South Korea, Japan and China are eschewing mass immigration to cope with shrinking working-age populations.

South Korean authorities have been desperate to reverse the country’s demographic trend, with President Yoon Suk-yeol in May calling on parliament help create a new ministry to deal with what he called a “national emergency.”

Experts say Asia’s demographic shift is driven by a demanding work culture, stagnant wages, rising costs of living, changing attitudes to marriage and gender equality, and growing disillusionment among younger generations.

But, despite the economic factors, throwing away money to solve the problem turned out to be ineffective.

In 2022, this was recognized by the South Korean authorities more than 200 billion dollars was spent trying to increase the population over the previous 16 years.

But initiatives such as the extension of paid parental leave, cash “child vouchers” for new parents and social campaigns to encourage men to participate in childcare and household chores have failed to reverse this trend.