[Editorial] Aging population

South Korea’s total population bounced back in 2023 after falling for two years in a row, but a closer look at the details in the latest data reveals that the government faces deepening demographic challenges on multiple fronts, especially the rapidly aging population.

The country’s total population -- which compiles data on childbirth, death and cross-border movements -- reached 51.77 million as of Nov. 1 last year, up 0.2 percent, or 82,000, from a year earlier, the 2023 census by Statistics Korea showed Monday.

The country’s total population declined in 2022, marking the first drop on record, and the negative trend continued in 2023, with the figure inching down 0.1 percent.

The first on-year increase in three years, however, did little to assuage concerns about the country’s population since the turnaround came largely from the increase in the number of foreign residents.

The number of foreign residents came in at 1.94 million, up 10.4 percent on-year, or 180,000, as the government extended working visa programs and more foreign workers rushed to the nation for jobs.

The rising proportion of foreign residents stresses the need for more systematic labor and welfare policies as they are expected to play a greater role in the country’s economy. The number of multicultural households also rose to 416,000 last year, marking a steady rise since 2015 when the figure was 299,000.

Meanwhile, the number of South Korean nationals fell 0.2 percent to 49.84 million last year, registering the third straight yearly drop, even though the government has introduced incentive policy programs to bolster the low birth rate.

The total fertility rate, or the average number of expected births from a woman in her lifetime, hit a record low of 0.72 in 2023, as young people are reluctant to get married or have babies, citing soaring financial burdens regarding child education and housing costs amid the prolonged economic slowdown.

Another worrisome trend is that the number of people aged 65 and older jumped 5 percent on-year to 9.49 million in 2023. The elderly group accounted for 18.6 percent of the total population last year, up from 17.7 percent a year earlier, suggesting that Korea is stepping closer to a super-aged society, in which people aged 65 and older make up over 20 percent of the total population.

But it should be noted that Korea has further advanced toward the super-aged society, according to the latest data from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, which announced the number of people aged 65 and older surpassed the 10 million mark as of July 10 -- or 19.51 percent of the total population based on resident registration data.

And some of the major cities and provinces have already been categorized as super-aged.

The aging of Korean society is also reflected in the senior index representing the number of over-65s per 100 people aged 14 and below. The index climbed to 171 last year, up from 113.9 in 2018.

What worries policymakers is that the senior index is expected to shoot up fast in the coming years. The Bank of Korea projected early this month that the second generation of baby boomers, born between 1964 and 1974, which is 9.54 million-strong, will enter retirement over the next 11 years, starting this year. The youngest members of the first generation of baby boomers -- 7.05 million people born between 1955 and 1963 -- hit the retirement age of 60 last year.

Given that the country’s working-age population, or people aged 15-64, fell by 140,000 to come to 36.54 million in 2023, the government must deploy more active labor policies to attract more foreign workers and help elderly retirees rejoin the workforce. Along with labor and immigration policy reforms, the government is urged to consider extending the current retirement age of 60.