The country's population is expected to decrease by half by 2115. Four out of 10 Koreans will be aged 65 or older.

Statistics Korea released the estimate on the country's future population, Thursday, which will provide a basis for pension, health insurance and other government policies.

According to the estimate, the country's total population will drop to 43 million in 2065 from the current 51 million. It will increase to 53 million by 2031, but then will start to fall. In 2115, the population will be 25.8 million, or half of the current population.

The outlook is based on the estimate that the country's fertility rate, or the number of babies born per woman, will stand at 1.38 in 2065 and life expectancy will be 90. In a more pessimistic scenario which estimates a fertility rate of 1.12 and life expectancy of 88.8, the country's population will start to decline in 2023. The country recorded a fertility rate of 1.24 last year, one of the lowest in the world. For a full study, click http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2016/12/488_219771.html.

Commentary by Jeonghwa Hong (jeonghwa.hong@britishcouncil.or.kr)

Those currently aged 15 will enter a university in 2021, when Korea’s university student population is anticipated to fall dramatically and show a continuing decrease onwards. This will affect a socio-economic side of the nation as well as an educational one. Therefore, the government and education-related organisations should start to be prepared to cope with foreseeable problems without much fuss.

From a quantitative perspective, the decrease of our university student population may also give a negative effect on Korea’s whole volume of the UK bound recruitment. In terms of a qualitative point of view, whereas, many at this age tend to be the only child in their family, so they are given more parental support. As long as their parents' finance permits, they would be interested in studying abroad and will look for / choose a quality programme over the others.