SEJONG -- South Korea will hold a national census this week, the statistics agency said Wednesday, amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Statistics Korea asked people to use mobile phones, fixed-line telephones and computers to register their personal, family and other information in a move to stop the spread of COVID-19.

The agency said about 27,000 census workers will carry out door-to-door visits from Nov. 1 to Nov. 18 for those who fail to respond to the non-contact survey from Oct. 15 to 31.

South Korea's total population inched up last year, but elderly people continued to outnumber children due to a rapid aging trend and a record low birthrate, according to an annual survey of Statistics Korea.

A total of 51.78 million people lived in South Korea as of Nov. 1, 2019, up 0.3 percent, or 150,000, from a year earlier.

Statistics Korea started to hold an annual population survey based on national resident registration records in 2016, with the conventional person-to-person survey to be conducted every five years. (Yonhap)