Population of Seoul Dwindling

The number of registered residents of Seoul will decline by 50,000 every year to fewer than 10 million by 2017, the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs said Sunday.

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Seoul's population stood at 10.10 million at the end of December last year, down 2.03 percent from late 2010.

It has declined by some 50,000 annually and if the trend goes on will fall below 10 million in early 2017.

The real population of Seoul excluding unregistered residents and those living overseas was already below 10 million in late 2013 with 9.99 million, the ministry said.

But the number of registered residents in the greater Seoul metropolitan area has increased. The total in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province taken together rose by 2.04 percent from 24.86 million in late 2010 to 25.36 million in late 2014.

Registered residents of Incheon grew 5.23 percent from 2.76 million in 2010 to 2.90 million in 2014. And that of Gyeonggi Province by 4.85 percent from 11.79 million in 2010 to 12.36 million in 2014.

A ministry official said many people seem to have moved out of the city proper to the suburbs.

The total registered population of Korea as a whole grew 1.61 percent from 50.52 million in late 2010 to 51.33 million in late 2014. Statistics Korea's estimated population of 50.42 million in 2014 is based on its quinquennial census.