South Korea’s Population Crisis Forces School Closures

Nearly 50 schools in South Korea are set to fall victim to the country’s low birth rate, the world’s lowest.

Newsweek reached out to the South Korean embassy in the U.S. with an emailed request for comment outside of working hours.

Why It Matters

South Korea has the world’s lowest fertility rate, with just 0.75 births expected per woman.

Despite hundreds of billions in government spending on cash subsidies, and other pro-natal initiatives, the crisis has barely budged, prompting the now-jailed President Yoon Suk-yeol to declare a “demographic national emergency.”

What To Know

This year, 49 elementary, middle, and high schools will shutter in the East Asian country, 16 more than last year and more than double the number of closures in 2023, according to Education Ministry data released on Sunday.

The declining birth rate cast a shadow, with elementary schools making up all but 11 of the closures. Last year, 122 elementary schools across the country enrolled no new students.

The impact of decades of intense urbanization was also felt. Rural schools account for 88 percent of those affected, while only a handful of closures will occur metropolitan areas—and none in the capital of Seoul.

There were 20,605 schools nationwide in 2023, according to Education Ministry statistics.

The country experienced a 15 percent rise in marriages last year and a modest baby bump—the first in nine years—this was attributed to the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, the proportion of people aged 65 and older reached 20 percent, officially making South Korea a “super-aged society.” This has further raised concerns among policymakers about the impact of its demographic shift on Asia’s fourth-largest economy.

What People Are Saying

Jung Jae-hoon, professor of social welfare at Seoul Women’s University, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: “Childcare systems are well established now at a society level through government investments, but we still need companies to change to become more family-friendly, which makes it a job half done.”

Joo Hyung-hwan, vice-chairman of the Presidential Committee on Ageing Society and Population Policy, was quoted by local media: “Rather than putting the policy focus only on how to boost the birthrate, we now need a more comprehensive perspective and to devise solutions such as attracting more foreigners.”

What Happens Next

South Korea is expected to lose even more schools in the coming years as births continue their downward trend.

Observers have called for a society-wide effort to reform work culture, including workplace discrimination against women, a factor often cited in decisions to delay or forgo childbirth.