Korea's student population is dwindling, especially kindergarteners

Social Affairs

Published: 30 Aug. 2022, 19:06 Updated: 31 Aug. 2022, 09:52

Korea's student population is dwindling, especially kindergarteners

President Yoon Suk-yeol, center, answers questions from students at Umtum School in Guro District, western Seoul on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

The number of students in Korean schools dropped 1.3 percent, data showed Tuesday, a grim reminder that the nation is heading off a demographic cliff.

As of April, there were about 5.88 million kindergarteners and elementary, middle and high school students in Korea, nearly 1.3 percent fewer than a year earlier, the Ministry of Education and the Korean Educational Development Institute announced.

It was the second year in a row that the figure was below 6 million.

The number of kindergarteners and elementary, middle and high school students peaked at some 10.31 million in 1986, education officials said.

Compared to last year, the steepest decline came in kindergarteners, which saw a 5.1 percent fall. The smallest was in middle school students, 0.2 percent.

Despite the decline, diversity was on the rise in the student population.

There were about 168,645 students from multiethnic families as of April, up by 8,587 students, or 5.1 percent, compared to April 2021. They make up 3.2 percent of all elementary through high school students in Korea now, the highest ever.

In terms of their parents’ countries of origin, 32.4 percent had a parent from Vietnam, 24.3 percent from China and 9.6 percent from the Philippines. The number of multiethnic students has been increasing since 2012, the Education Ministry highlighted.

International students in universities also increased 9.6 percent to reach 166,892. Among them, short-term students here on exchanges, visiting programs or to learn Korean jumped 30.5 percent.

In terms of nationality, 40.4 percent were from China, followed by 22.7 percent from Vietnam, 5.2 percent from Uzbekistan, 4.4 percent from Mongolia and 3.4 percent from Japan.

The number of elementary schools increased by six and middle schools by 13, but 188 kindergartens shut down and 90 newly opened, so there were 98 fewer in April compared to last year. Of the kindergartens closures, 154 were private institutes.

One university closed and one opened, leaving the total number at 426, the same as last year.

In one of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration’s first efforts to bring the plunging birthrate back up, the government on Tuesday announced that it would offer 700,000 won ($520) monthly to families with newborns for the child's first 12 months, starting next year.

From the first to the second birthday, the government promised 350,000 won a month.

By 2024, the Yoon administration said it hopes to raise the monthly cash bonuses to 1 million won for the first 12 months and 500,000 won for the next 12.

Under the current baby subsidy system, each family is entitled to 300,000 won per month up to the second birthday.

The raised subsidies will cost the nation about 1.3 trillion won next year, the government said.

Less than a week ago, Statistics Korea reported census data showing the nation’s total fertility rate to have dropped in 2021 for the sixth straight year.

The total fertility rate – the average number of births a woman is projected to give during her reproductive years – stood at 0.81 last year, down from 2020’s 0.84.

Korea’s total fertility rate has consistently dropped since 2015, when the figure was 1.24.

Korea has the lowest fertility rate in the world, nearly half the average of the advanced economies that are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which is 1.59.

A total fertility rate of at least 2 is needed to sustain a country’s population.

Some 260,600 babies were born in 2021, but at the current rate, Statistics Korea said the country might see fewer than 250,000 born this year. That’s nearly half the number of babies born in 2003, some 495,000.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]