Demographic changes pose challenges to nation

Published on 2012/06/30 | Source

By Yun Suh-young

It took 29 years for the population in South Korea to reach 50 million on Saturday from 40 million in 1983 but the news is not entirely joyful as Korean society is rapidly aging at the same time.

In response to a fast growth in the number of senior citizens, the government plans to work out measures to manage a balanced population structure.

"The population of 50 million has its productive aspects in terms of GDP and trade but it also means a heavier burden on the government to provide welfare", said the Ministry of Health and Welfare in a press release Sunday.

"Research on the population size must follow and policies to manage the population structure reasonably must be created".

The youth population aged 14 and younger nearly halved from 12.59 million in 1983 to 7.56 million this year, while the elderly aged over 65 almost tripled from 1.67 million to 5.89 million.

The ministry cited Japan's case saying although the country was the first to join the 20-50 club its economy struggled and social problems arose due to the aging population.

As a means to tackle the aging population issue, the government plans to push forth with the "five year plan for low birth rate and aging society" to manage a balanced population structure.

The government will put in 75.8 trillion won in the project over a five-year period.

With the nation reaching 50 million in population, the welfare budget is expected to increase by five times. Spending on housing and energy will also go up.

The number of people in the southern part of Korean peninsula reached 50 million as of 7 p.m. Saturday which accounts for 0.71 percent of the total world population of 7.05 billion, according to Statistics Korea.

South Korea became the seventh nation to join the "20-50" club which is a group of nations that have a GDP per capita of 20,000 dollars and a population of 50 million.

Starting with Japan in 1987, the United States (1988), France (1990), Italy (1990), Germany (1991) and the United Kingdom (1996) joined the group.