S. Korea's population mobility hits 48-year low in 2022

SEOUL, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's population mobility hit the lowest in 48 years last year due to the housing market downturn and the rapidly aging population, statistical office data showed Monday.

The number of those who changed residence to a different province or city came to 6,152,000 in 2022, down 14.7 percent from the previous year, according to Statistics Korea.

It was the lowest in 48 years since 1974, marking the fastest fall in 46 years since 1976 when the number diminished 24.8 percent.

The population mobility rate, which gauges the number of people moving to a different region for every 100 people, declined 2.1 percentage points to 12.0 percent in 2022, reaching the lowest in 50 years since 1972.

Fast interest rate hikes led to the housing market slump, which cut the number of those relocating to new homes in different regions.

The number of housing transactions stood at 480,000 nationwide for the first 11 months of 2022, more than halving the figure of 961,000 tallied in the same period of 2021.

The rapid population aging contributed to an increased number of the people aged 60 years and older who tend not to move to a different region.

The mobility rates among those in their 60s and 70s stood at 7.4 percent and 5.4 percent each, while the rates for those in their 20s and 30s came in at 23.1 percent and 18.9 percent respectively.