South Korea’s interior ministry announced Tuesday that the country has officially become a “super-aged society,” with the proportion of people aged 65 or older now exceeding 20 percent of the total population, as the Asian country faces a demographic crisis caused by a rapidly aging population and falling birth rates .
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said the number of South Koreans aged 65 or older reached 10.24 million as of Monday, accounting for 20 percent of the country’s total population of 51.22 million, according to the Interior Ministry .
The agency added that the United Nations classifies countries with a population of more than 7% aged 65 or over as an old society, those with a population of more than 14% as an elderly society, and those with a population of more than 20% as a “super-aged ” society.
The agency noted that the number of citizens aged 65 or over in South Korea has gradually increased over the years, after recording 4.94 million people in 2008.
