The Elderly Now Outnumber Children In Seoul
If you feels like Seoul has a lot of elderly people living in it, you would be right:
Senior citizens in Seoul have outnumbered children for the first time, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said Thursday.
As of April 30, there were 1,234,181 people 65 or over in the capital, slightly surpassing the number of children under 15 ― 1,232,194.
The aging index, the ratio of elderly people to children, recorded 100.4, exceeding 100 for the first time.
“The higher index means the number of elderly citizens is increasing more than the younger generation, which will be the working-age population needed to support them,” a city official said. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link.
This is so funny. Back in the mid-80s, the ROK government ran public service announcements before movies in Korean theaters that touted the benefits of having fewer children. A well-dressed Korean man visits a nice-looking Mom, Dad, and Son at their home. The mother pulls out her savings passbook and shows the man the savings they’ve been able to stash away because of having their small family. Everybody is smiling and happy. Mom and Dad are proud of their only child.
Improvements in the economy, sanitation and medical practices in the ROK drastically reduced the infant mortality rates and raised the average life expectancy, but families were still popping out a lot of children and the population was growing at a rapid clip. There was a concern that, if left unchecked, the population growth was going to put a squeeze on land that was considered necessary for agriculture. (I don’t know if it’s still this way, but back then every square inch of non-built ground that was capable of growing anything was put to agricultural use.) When I saw these PSAs running, the population was about 41 million IIRC. It’s a bit over 50 million now, and it’s aging, so I guess the realities of the economy — maybe with some help from the propaganda-like PSAs — managed to slow down the growth. Now, just like in the U.S., the aging population is becoming an issue for the economy as there are relatively fewer young people to support them. The population growth pendulum has swung both ways in Korea in just a few decades. It’s a difficult situation to deal with, but it’s a real testament to how much the ROK has thrived in that time.