[Organization]

The Asia Business Daily 

 

[Title]

Working-Age Population Falls Below 70%... Elderly Exceed 20% for the First Time

 

[Overview]

On July 28, the Ministry of Data and Statistics announced the "2025 Population and Housing Census Results (registration-based census method)." The most notable highlight is the working-age population. As of November 1, 2025, the working-age population (aged 15-64) stood at 35.87 million, representing just 69.2% of the total population. The youth population (aged 0-14) also sharply declined to 5.22 million (10.1%), a drop of 196,000 people (-3.6%) compared to the previous year. 

 

On the other hand, the elderly population (aged 65 and over) reached 10.72 million (20.7%), exceeding 20% of the total population for the first time in history. This is an increase of 1.2 percentage points (601,000 people) from the previous year, which stood at 19.5%. The aging index, which represents the number of elderly per 100 youths, also soared to 205.2, an increase of 18.5 from the previous year's 186.7, highlighting the severe population imbalance. 

 

[URL]

https://www.asiae.co.kr/en/article/2026072811224929162