GK:2.1.2 Population structure: world’s lowest birth rate and a rapidly aging populace
Geography of Korea: II. Population and Living Space > 1. Population > 2) Population structure: world’s lowest birth rate and a rapidly aging populace
목차
2) Population structure: world’s lowest birth rate and a rapidly aging populace
Population structure refers to the composition of a given population and an examination of differences in the socio-economic status of that population in certain temporal and spatial conditions. Population structure can classify population according to various categories, such as sex, age, industry, occupation, social class, marital status, and education level. Among all these categorizations, the most fundamental in terms of population structure are those of sex and age.
(1) Demographics of gender: regional and generational differences
In terms of population, gender is the most significant characteristic affecting fertility. When examining the gender structure of a given population we speak of its sex ratio, that is, the number of males per 100 females. Since 1955 the sex ratio in (South) Korea has been generally balanced. Until 2000 there were slightly more males, with the ratio fluctuating between 100.1–100.4 (i.e., 100.1–100.4 males per 100 females). In 2005, however, females had the slight advantage with a ratio of 99.5, an advantage that increased in 2010 to 98.7. These most recent changes in sex ratio can be tied to the aging of the population. When breaking down the sex ratio by age, we generally find that for natural births the sex ratio favors males at about 105. It then becomes more or less balanced among those of marriageable age in their twenties and thirties, and then gradually begins to favor females due to the shorter average lifespan of males, such that by the time you reach octogenarians and above that ratio has become 40 or even less (i.e., 40 males or less per 100 females).
Thus, although the overall sex ratio may be balanced, large differences open up when we approach it from an age perspective. Because Koreans have traditionally favored the birth of males, we generally see a higher sex ratio at birth compared to other countries. This continued into the 1990s, with the sex ratio at birth for 1993 standing at 115.3, though more recently this trend has mitigated and the sex ratio at birth for 2012 was recorded at 105.7.
Further, the sex ratio in a given age group can also show great variation between urban and rural regions. With increasing industrialization and urbanization in the 1960s, many rural residents migrated to cities, with rural young women in particular seeking working opportunities there. The result was a critical gender imbalance in the marriageable age population of rural agricultural communities. In 2010, the sex ratio among 25–29 year-olds in rural agricultural communities (understood here as those residing in townships) was 141.2, a reality that has made it extremely challenging for young adult males to find marriage partners in rural areas, and increasing the trend of securing foreign brides.
Regional variations in sex ratio can be attributed to the primary economic activity of the region in question. In regions with industries requiring male labor, such as the heavy chemical industry, more males can be found, while areas with more female-reliant industry, such as service industries, have higher rates of females.
(2) Age-specific population structure: fewer births and a growing elderly population
Changes in South Korea’s age-related population structure over the last fifty years well illustrates the process of its demographic transition. In 1960, children (those under age 15) accounted for 42.9 percent of the total South Korean population. By 2010 this had fallen significantly to 16.2 percent. Similarly, the elderly (those aged 65 and over) made up 3.3 percent of the population in 1960, but 11.3 percent by 2010, a four-hundred-percent increase. This reduction in the population rate of children, and the increase of young adults and especially the elderly, is related to modernization, industrialization, urbanization, a falling birth rate, and the relative reduction of mortality rates.
South Korea's aggressive family planning policy was effective in lowering its population growth rate, but the resulting low birth rate has, in recent years, become a serious issue. The total fertility rate refers to the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime. In 2012, this number for South Korea was 1.3. If this trend continues, the drop in the country's productive population and the resulting economic stagnation will become a critical concern. Causes cited for this rapid decline in birth rate include women's growing role in society, the rising cost of maternity and childcare, and a growing trend towards singlehood or late marriage. The plummeting birthrate has meant the South Korean government has abandoned the birth control policy it had been pushing for over thirty years and implemented instead a variety of policy initiatives meant to increase the country's birthrate.
The reality of a declining birth rate and an aging population has become a critical issue facing Korean society. In 2006, South Korea's elderly population surpassed 7.1 percent, making it an aging society. If this trend continues, it is anticipated that by 2026 it the elderly will make up 20 percent, making it a “super-aged society.” The primary factors in an aging society are a declining birth rate coupled with an increase in the average lifespan due to medical advances. The fallout from this will not only include labor shortages and increasing welfare costs, but can also include a diminishing social vitality and even inter-generational tensions and conflicts.
This being said, there is a difference in the age-related population structure between rural and urban areas. Because many of young adults have fled the countryside for the city, the rural population tends to have a relatively high rate of elderly. Conversely, urban areas tend to have relatively high rates of young adults.
