Most local governments outside the Seoul metropolitan area are pushing measures to curb population decline, but a survey of local governments found the efforts have had limited effect and the risk of regional extinction will intensify over the next five years.
The Federation of Korean Industries announced on the 19th the results of a survey on the status and challenges of population decline and regional extinction targeting local governments outside the metropolitan area.
In this survey, the vast majority (97.0%) of local governments outside the metropolitan area said they are pursuing policies to respond to population decline and regional extinction.
However, more than half (54.6%) of the local governments implementing population decline countermeasures rated the outcomes of their policies as "average." Only 38.1% said the policies were "effective."
The outlook was also negative. Six out of 10 local governments (64.0%) outside the metropolitan area expected the risk level of population decline and regional extinction to "rise" five years from now compared with today. Only 12.0% said the risk would "ease."
Local governments cited "attracting corporations (37.5%)" as the top priority task to respond to regional extinction. That was followed by supplying dwellings and improving the residential environment (19.5%), boosting inflows of the daytime population (such as revitalizing tourism) (12.5%), and strengthening medical services (such as hub public hospitals) (7.5%).
Among the local governments outside the metropolitan area that took part in the survey, 77.0% rated their jurisdiction's risk level of population decline and regional extinction as "high." By region, Gangwon was highest at 85.7%, followed by Gyeongsang (85.3%), Jeolla (78.6%), and Chungcheong (58.3%).
The poll was conducted by the research firm Mono Research from Dec. 5 to 11 last year. The survey covered cities and counties excluding the Seoul metropolitan area (Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon), metropolitan cities, and Sejong and Jeju. Of 120 target local governments, 100 responded to the questionnaire. The margin of error is ±9.8 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.