Signal Korea's population aged 15 and over grows only 0.3 percent a year to 2033

Summary

Using 2023 as its base year, KEIS projects that Korea's population aged 15 and over, which the report treats as the working-age population, will rise from 45.407 million to 46.568 million by 2033. That works out to average growth of just 0.3 percent a year across the ten-year outlook. Most of the gain comes early, with roughly 864,000 people added by 2028 and only about 297,000 more over the following five years. The report attributes the loss of momentum to deepening low fertility and ageing, which it expects to start binding labour supply during the outlook period. It sets this small aggregate increase alongside a shrinking population aged 15 to 64, so headline growth and a contracting core age band coexist.