CNA Insider: Is Seoul To Blame For South Korea's Population Crisis? (2024)

South Korea's is facing a population crisis, with Seoul at the centre of it. The country’s capital remains the beneficiary of both internal and external migration. Instead, it is in the rural and peripheral areas where low birth rates and the aging population have become crises. The countryside is at risk of becoming extinct. As more opportunities and people get concentrated in Seoul, urban pressures have led to rising unemployment and cost of living. And when things get expensive, people do not have babies. Seoul now has the lowest birthrate in South Korea, in a country with the world’s most dire fertility. On the other hand, farms and factories in the rural areas desperately need workers. How can South Korea solve this population puzzle?