Signal Korea's working-age population shrinks by about 500,000 a year in the 2030s and labour turns into a drag

Summary

The strategy reports that Korea's working-age population grew by an average of 170,000 a year in the 2010s. It has been declining since 2020, by an average of 310,000 a year in the 2020s. The decline is projected to average 500,000 a year in the 2030s and 480,000 a year in the 2040s. As a result the contribution of labour to growth keeps shrinking and is expected to turn negative around 2030. The government describes this as the full arrival of an era of demographic onus.