Statistics Korea and Ministry of the Interior and Safety Q2 Living Population Estimation
The living population in population-declining areas in the second quarter increased compared to the previous quarter, with the staying population rising to 4.8 times the registered population.
Statistics Korea and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced these results after estimating the second-quarter living population for 89 population-declining areas nationwide. The living population includes people who reside or stay in the area and carry out their daily lives, encompassing both resident registration population and foreign registration population.
For this living population estimation, Statistics Korea and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety pseudonymously combined data from 10 institutions, including resident registration and foreign registration data from the Ministry of Justice, the three major telecom companies (SKT, KT, LGU+), four card companies (Shinhan, BC, Samsung, Hana), and the credit information company (KCB). Subsequently, they analyzed various aspects such as the size of the living and staying populations by region and the activity and consumption characteristics of each population-declining area to derive the results.
As of June, the total living population in population-declining areas in the second quarter was approximately 28.5 million, an increase of about 3.5 million compared to March. Among them, the staying population was about 23.6 million, which is 4.8 times the registered population (about 4.9 million). This figure is higher than the 4.1 times recorded in March. In particular, Yangyang-gun in Gangwon Province showed a significant difference, with the staying population being 17.4 times the registered population compared to other regions.
Among the registered population, the number of domestic residents decreased monthly, while the number of foreigners increased, resulting in little overall change in the total registered population. The staying population generally increased in the second quarter, coinciding with the favorable season for activities. Especially in May, which includes Family Month and other commemorative days, the staying population was among the highest in the first half of the year.
The average card spending per staying person in population-declining areas was 115,000 KRW as of June. Males spent more on average than females, and the average spending increased with age. The total card spending by the staying population accounted for 43.2% of all card spending, indicating a contribution to the local economy. In particular, Gangwon Province and metropolitan cities accounted for more than 50% of the share.
By industry, card spending was mainly in food (28.9%) and retail (17.8%). Specifically, Gangwon showed notable spending in culture, leisure, and accommodation sectors, while metropolitan cities had a high proportion of spending in healthcare services.
Lee Hyung-il, Commissioner of Statistics Korea, said, "We hope that the living population estimated by Statistics Korea will help establish various support policies that revitalize population-declining areas facing extinction risks," adding, "We will continue to strive to produce useful statistics to faithfully support data-driven policies of the Digital Platform Government."
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