Given that the declining pace in the youth population portion was faster in Korea than in Japan (which has been posting the lowest figure for several years in the OECD) over the past four years, Korea will likely be outstripped by the latter as early as in the first half of 2022. Korea saw the portion of youth population fall by 1.2 percentage points from 13.4 percent in 2016 to 12.2 percent in ...

Korea’s lackluster figure placed the country 32nd of the 36 members. Of the total 38 members, the OECD has yet to compile or publicize the figures for Costa Rica and Luxembourg. Despite the pandemic situation, the economy of six members expanded more than 4 percent: Ireland (No. 1) with 6.3 percent, the UK with 4.8 percent, Portugal with 4.5 percent, Latvia with 4.4 percent, Estonia with 4.3 per...

Korea lagged far behind neighbors in the Asia-Pacific region: 71.3 percent was reported for women in Japan (12th), 71.7 percent in Australia (ninth) and 73.5 percent in New Zealand (sixth). Among emerging economies, Estonia placed No. 13 with 70.4 percent, Latvia (15th) was at 68.3, Slovenia (16th) hit 68.1 percent, Hungary (17th) had 67.8 percent, the Czech Republic (20th) marked 66.3 percent a...

The rebound in August, though the extent was meager, was somewhat attributed to a surge in the number of inbound visitors to study in universities or international schools, while the figure for inbound tourists remained in the doldrums. KIS data showed that the number of visitors for study increased more than 800 percent from 1,753 in July to 17,319 in August. Those included foreign students, wh...

The pace in the increase of tax wedge in Korea was the third-fastest among the 36 members of the OECD as of 2020 on-year. Of the total 37 members, Colombia was not included in the analysis. Korea placed next to Australia with a 0.416 percentage point growth and New Zealand with a 0.344 percentage point growth. While four more countries had a positive growth in the index, which indicates a highe...

Only 6.8 percent of the refugee families owned houses or land worth 300 million won or over. The findings showed 6.5 percent of defectors owned property worth between 200 to 300 million won, followed by 3.5 percent who had property valued at 150 to 200 million won. The next on the list were 5.5 percent with property of 100 million-150 million won, and 7.1 percent with property of 50 to 100 milli...

Four-member households were still far outnumbering three-member households by 4.21 million vs. 3.68 million in August 2011. But four-member households were overtaken by the latter in February 2017, with their gap widening to 3.41 million vs. 4 million in August 2021. Likewise, large families of five-member households or more continued to decline over the corresponding period. In contrast, the c...

The comparison of figures for 2019 and 2020 indicate that online shopping transactions were robust despite the lackluster economic indices in the wake of the novel coronavirus. By segment, agricultural, livestock and fisheries products posted growth of 242 percent during the July 2017-July 2021 period, from 182 billion won to 542 billion won, in online transactions. Turnover among online sellers...

The tough hiring market has particularly deteriorated job opportunities for college and high school graduates, according to official research on the economically active population. In July, the employment rate for people in their 20s stood at 58.6 percent, which contrasted from 75.3 percent for those in their 30s, 77.7 percent for those in their 40s and 75.7 percent for those in their 50s. The ...

Further, the average age for Korean women is likely to reach 45 in the first half of 2022, given that the figure climbed by 0.3 in only seven months -- from 44.4 in January 2021 to 44.7 in August 2021. Meanwhile, the average age by region is showing wide disparity among eight major cities and nine provinces, as many young people have rushed to metropolitan areas for study and jobs. Recent data s...

A local labor researcher said, “Since early 2020, many enterprises have pushed for layoffs of employees in their 20s with short careers and relatively weaker expertise. The situation is particularly seen in Seoul, where the dominant portion of companies are located.” In addition, retailers like coffee shop or convenience store owners, both in Seoul and the other regions, have been more pessimist...

Ministry data showed that girls under 10 have already been outstripped by women in their 70s, starting from April 2020, when the figures posted 1.99 million versus 2 million. The gap had widened to 1.86 million versus 2.02 million as of last month. With such speed, the population of those aged up to 9 will soon be the smallest age group, compared to those 10-19 and in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 6...

The sharper drop among short-term visitors is likely due to a marked fall in the number of inbound travelers for sightseeing or business. Chinese still made up the greatest portion of the total, with 852,204 Chinese nationals staying in Korea as of last month, though the figure slid by 22.6 percent from 1.10 million in December 2019. Ethnic Koreans from China, or Chinese citizens of Korean desce...

The relatively low figures, which are below the average of 61.7 percent, are also seen in Daegu, which posted a 51.7 percent growth during the December 2019-July 2021 period, and in Busan with 56.4 percent. While Gyeonggi Province is the nation’s most populous region, Seoul, Busan, Incheon and Daegu are the nation’s four largest cities. In contrast, Daejeon posted 72 percent growth, while the n...

Last year Korea’s nominal gross domestic product recorded 1,933.1 trillion won, which indicates that the ratio of national debt to GDP is estimated to have approached the 50 percent mark for the first time to reach an all-time high of 48.5 percent. The estimated figure for August 2021 could mean a surge of about 6 percentage points since the end of 2020, when the ratio was 41.6 percent, but this...