Korea’s youth population will decline to less than half of the current level in 2060 if the country’s birthrate stays low, a government report said Monday.

The number of people aged between 9 and 24 declined to 10.2 million last year, accounting for 20.4 percent of the total, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said. The figure reached its peak at 14 million in 1980 and is forecast to decline further, to 9.6 million in 2015, 7.1 million in 2030, 5.9 million in 2050, and 5 million in 2060.

The country will also see widening gender imbalance in the future, the report added. The male-to-female ratio in the youth group last year was 111.7, higher than the figure of 100.3 for the total population.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)