Average age of S. Koreans hits 42.1 years last year: data

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SEOUL. KAZINFORM The average age of South Korea's population rose 5.1 years to reach 42.1 years last year compared with a decade earlier, an analysis of government data showed Sunday.

The average age of Korean men rose to 40.9 years from 35.9 in the cited period, while that of Korean women reached 43.2 years last year, up from 38.2 in 2008, according to population data from Seoul's interior ministry, Yonhap reports.

Over the past 10 years, South Korea's population has grown 2.3 million to 51.8 million, it showed.

By age group, those in their 40s and 50s accounted for 16.4 percent and 16.6 percent of the population, respectively. Those aged below 10 accounted for 8.3 percent and those aged 10 to 19 made up for 9.9 percent, it showed.

With its stubbornly low birthrate, South Korea is fast becoming an aging society. The country's population is widely expected to start declining in 2027, experts say.

There were 25.9 million men last year, up 1 million from 2008, while women numbered 26 million, a rise of 1.24 million over the same period. Since 2015, the number of South Korean women has been higher than that of men, the data showed.

Last year, the ratio of men to women reached 0.996, and it may reach 0.99 this year, given the growing number of women relative to men.

When the figure for South Korea's gender ratio is rounded, it has been 1 since 2008, when the ministry began to compile relevant data.

In the past, the ratio far exceeded 1 in Korea due to the male-focused Confucian society's deep-rooted preference for sons over daughters.

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