In 50 Years, South Korea's Population Drops to 36 Million... Half Will Be Over 65 Years Old

Statistics Korea World and Korea Population Projections

Elderly people are playing Janggi along the roadside behind Tapgol Park in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

South Korea is expected to become a country where half of the population is elderly by 2072, with the proportion of people aged 65 and over reaching 47.7%.

According to the 'World and Korea Population Status and Prospects' released by Statistics Korea on the 23rd, while the world population is projected to increase from 8.16 billion this year to 10.22 billion in 2072, South Korea's population is expected to decrease from 52 million to 36 million by 2072. Due to population decline, South Korea's share of the world population will decrease from 0.6% this year to 0.4% in 2072.

Not only will the population decline, but the population structure will also change significantly. First, the proportion of elderly people aged 65 and over will rise sharply, surpassing the working-age population (15-64 years old).

The proportion of the elderly population aged 65 and over is projected to increase from 19.2% this year to 47.7% in 2072. Meanwhile, the working-age population proportion, which peaked at 73.4% in 2012, is expected to continue declining to 45.8% by 2072.

Accordingly, the old-age dependency ratio, which refers to the number of people aged 65 and over per 100 working-age people, will increase 3.8 times from 27.4 this year to 104.2 in 2072.

The total dependency ratio, which includes children aged 1 to 14 as dependents, is projected to increase 2.8 times from 42.5 this year to 118.5 in 2072.

Meanwhile, South Korea's total fertility rate was 0.72 last year, which is 1.53 lower than the world total fertility rate of 2.25. South Korea's life expectancy was 82.7 years in 2022, 10.1 years higher than the global life expectancy of 72.6 years.