<Anchor>



Worrying prospects for population decline in Korea have continued, but as the population is declining faster than initially expected, the number of population has already peaked last year, not in 2029, and statistics suggest that the population will decrease by 90,000 for the first time this year. came out. It is estimated that in 50 years, the population will shrink by 14 million people, shrinking to two-thirds of the present level.



The main reason is that an increasing number of young people are giving up on marriage and childbirth, as reported by reporter Jo Ki-ho.



<Reporter>



Choi Ji-hye, 37, had a lot of problems until she got married earlier this year.



[Choi Ji-hye/Professional worker: I thought that I could be greedy about marriage only after financial stability was supported.]



I have yet to decide whether to have a child.



[Choi Ji-hye/Professional worker: I think that the problem of childbirth is not just the two of us. As long as the social structure in which women work at work is not corrected with the support of the sacrifice of the mother or mother-in-law without any social system or policy support....]



Such concerns as Mr. Choi are revealed in statistics.



First of all, the number of people getting married has decreased by nearly 20% compared to five years ago.



Even if they get married, one in two newlyweds is giving up having children.



As a result, not only will the total population decrease, but it is predicted that the number of working-age people who support the economy through work will decrease by 20 million in 50 years.



Now, one person in this age group works to support 0.4 seniors and children, but a baby born this year will be responsible for 1.2 people alone in 50 years.



[Kim Jin-seok/Professor of Social Welfare, Seoul Women's University: The decrease in the number of the next generation means that the proportion of people that that generation has to support increases and the social burden increases.

As well as the social service area, the problem of basic social reproduction is under threat.] The



government expects that young people will have delayed marriages and children once they get out of the corona situation.



However, since more than 200 trillion won has been poured into countering the low birth rate and the situation has not been reversed, the government must urgently come up with measures to maintain the working population, including extending the retirement age.



(Video editing: Park Jin-hoon, CG: Jang Seong-beom, VJ: Park Hyun-woo)