North Korea has moved into an aging society with the portion of its elderly taking up more than 8 percent of the population and women in their 70s outnumbering their male counterparts, data showed Tuesday.

The number of North Koreans aged over 65 reached 2.09 million as of Oct. 1, 2008, or 8.7 percent of the 24.05 million in total population, according to the country’s Population Census, published by the North’s Central Statistic Bureau in 2008 with assistance from the United Nations Population Fund.

A country with 7 percent or more of the population representing the aged is considered an aging society. As of 2008, the portion of the aged people in South Korea stood at 10.3 percent.

The number of aged men in North Korea came in at 712,000, with the corresponding figure for women nearly doubling to 1.38 million, the data showed.

The number of men in their 70s declined sharply, with the ratio to every 100 women falling to 52.6 for those between 70 and 74 years old and 30.9 for those in their late 70s. Among people in their 80s, there was one man for every six women, the data showed.

The number of female centenarians in North Korea came in at 62, among which two women were over 110 years old as of the tallied year.

The most populated region was South Pyongan Province with 4.05 million, or 17.4 percent of the total population, followed by the capital city of Pyongyang with 3.25 million and South Hamgyeong Province with 3.06 million. (Yonhap News)