A study on the population structure and aging of reunified Korea

Abstract

The Republic of Korea is undergoing both unprecedented, rapid population aging and lowest-low fertility problems. These population trends eventually cause a population decline, manpower decrease, and other related socio-economic problems. Recently, reunification of the two Koreas has been discussed as a possible breakthrough to overcome population problems. This paper first conducts a population projection of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and then predicts the future population of a reunified Korea under possible scenarios of fertility and mortality. We further examine the population structure of reunified Korea using age-specific populations, aging indices and dependency ratios to investigate population aging and the socio-economic sustainability of the reunified Korea. Based on the projection results, reunification cannot drastically change the aging trend of the Republic of Korea, but can delay the decrease of the working-age population.