28 Percent Increase of Aged Population

As the population aged 65 or older increased, Korea was found to have entered into an aging society. Korea had a population of 46,136,101 as of Nov. 1 last year, thus ranking 26th in population size in the world.

The National Statistical Office (NSO) released on Sept. 25 `the result of the 2000 population census` which showed that Korea`s population increased by 1,527375 (3.5 percent) for 5 years from 44,608,726 in 1995.

In terms of age group, the number of people aged 65 or older increased by 27.7 percent to 3,372,000, which was 732,000 higher than that in 1995. The ratio of the aged reached 7.3 percent, up sharply from 5.9 percent in 1995. On the other hand, the young population under the age of 15 was estimated at 9,639,000, down by 597,000 (5.8 percent) from that of 1995.

Lined up by age, the age that occupied the very center arose from the age of 29.7 to 32, and the ratio of the aged against youth marked 35, up sharply from 25.8 in 1995. It is often said that a country is classified as an aging society if the ratio of the aged against youth exceeds 30.

The population of the metropolitan area increase by 1 percent, while that of the rural area marked 1.5 percent decrease, which pointed to the concentration of population into cities. Kyunggi-do accounted for 87.4 percent of the population growth of 1,527,000 throughout the nation.

yhchoi65@donga.com