Resident registration population decline for 3 consecutive years… 'Home Alone' in front of 10 million

In 2020, after 2021, it appeared that the population decreased last year as well.

The number of single-person households continues to increase and is about to exceed 10 million. In particular, it was investigated that the proportion of the elderly female population exceeded 20% for the first time.

The Ministry of Public Administration and Security announced that as of December 31 last year, the number of registered residents in Korea was 51,439,038, a decrease of 199,771 compared to 2021.

The Ministry of Public Administration and Security explained that the number of people decreased by 118,03 due to natural factors and 101,938 due to the ex officio cancellation of long-term unknown residents.

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In terms of gender, the decrease in the male population has continued for 4 consecutive years, and the female population has also decreased for 2 consecutive years following 2021.

The population gap between men and women is 165,136, the largest ever since the female population overtook the male population for the first time in 2015.

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Single-person households, which continued to increase, recorded 9,724,256 households, accounting for 41% of the total.

While the proportion of households with 3 or 4 people or more is steadily decreasing, households with 1 person and 2 people together accounted for 65.2% of the total.

The total number of households increased by nearly 1% from the end of 2021 to 23,705,814 households, and the average number of household members decreased to an all-time low of 2.17.

Looking at the population by age group, those in their 50s still accounted for the largest portion at 16.7%, and the elderly population aged 65 or older accounted for 18.0% of the total population.

The local governments that increased the population from the end of 2021 are 5 metropolitan areas such as Gyeonggi, Incheon, Sejong, Chungnam, and Jeju, and the rest have decreased in population.

The population of 52 local governments increased, including Seo-gu in Incheon, Hwaseong-si in Gyeonggi-do, Pyeongtaek-si in Gyeonggi-do, Paju-si in Gyeonggi-do, and Asan-si in Chungnam.