Seoul struggles with nation’s steepest population decline

• Seoul is suffering the sharpest population decline among Korea’s 17 municipalities, data showed on Monday, as many people can’t afford to buy a home in the nation’s capital and subsequently are moving to less central areas in search of cheaper housing. Housing prices in Seoul especially skyrocketed in recent years over the failed real estate policies under the previous Moon Jae-in administration and costly borrowing rates.
• Most of the major cities and provinces also have been losing population. But it is more associated with the low birthrate and aging society that has been dealing a blow to the entire country, whereas the shrinking population in Seoul is mainly caused by a housing bubble.
• According to Korean Statistical Information Service, the number of residents in Seoul went down by 7.5 percent or 766,946 to 9.42 million between 2012 and 2022. This is the largest rate of decline among the country’s 17 municipalities during the 10-year period, followed by Busan with 6.2 percent and Daegu with 5.7 percent.

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