Around four in ten cities, counties and districts in South Korea are at risk of becoming ghost areas as the number of residents dwindle.
It's being caused not only by the ultra-low birthrate and graying population,... but also by young people moving to urban areas in search of work or education.
Seo Eunkyung reports.

A population drift away from rural areas is causing population disparity between different regions of Korea.

Eighty-nine cities, counties and districts throughout Korea are in danger of disappearing, according to the Korea Employment Information Service. The figure, 39 percent of the total number of municipalities in the country, is up about six percentage points compared to 5 years ago.

When the number of people aged 65 or older more than doubles the number of fertile women aged between 20 and 39, a municipality is seen as being at risk of extinction.

If this trend persists, Korea's total population will start to shrink from 2031.The fall in population is happening unevenly across the country.

The proportion of people living in rural areas has fallen steadily over the last twenty years to just 50.6 percent of the number of people living in urban areas last year.
And the number of young people in their 20s and 30s living in rural areas was just 47 percent the number living in urban areas last year.


"A steady outflow of young people from rural areas to urban areas is one of the most critical reasons for the regional population disparity. The lack of quality jobs and education has led young people to move from rural areas to big localities as well as to the Seoul metropolitan area."

This year, Jung-gu district in Busan, one of the biggest metropolitan cities in Korea was also added to the list, indicating that the danger of extinction doesn't just affect rural areas, but also parts of major cities.
Seo Eun-Kyung, Arirang News