hankyoreh

France

By Hwangbo yon and Kim So-youn

According to a report on the current status of world population in 2010 released Wednesday by the Planned Population Federation of Korea in conjunction with the United Nations Population Fund, South Korea’s total fertility rate is less than half the world average. The total fertility rate (TFR) represents the average expected number of children born per woman between the ages of 15 and 49.

South Korea’s TFR of 1.24 was the third lowest in the world, which has an average of 2.52, ahead only of Hong Kong (1.01) and Bosnia and Hercegovina (1.22). The rate stayed in the bottom tier worldwide for a third straight year, with a rate of 1.2 registered in 2008 and 1.22 in 2009.

TFR was higher for poorer countries, with developed nations such as the members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) averaging a rate of 1.65, developing countries averaging 2.67, and underdeveloped countries averaging 4.23.

South Korea’s infant mortality rate of four children per 1,000 was the lowest in the world after the Nordic countries of Norway, Sweden, and Finland, which had rates of three deaths per 1,000.

South Korea’s population of 48.5 million people was the 26th highest in the world. The total population of the world was calculated at 6.987 billion people, an increase of 79.3 million over 2009. China was the most populous country, with around 1.35 billion people, followed by India and the United States, with 1.21 billion and 317.6 million people, respectively.

The study showed the average lifespan worldwide to be 66.1 years for men and 70.5 years for women. South Korea ranked 31st for average male lifespan, at 76.4 years, and 17th for average female lifespan, at 82.9 years.

The scale of increase in employment between September 2009 and September 2010 fell below 300 thousand, the lowest level in six months, indicating a retreat in the employment recovery trend. Employment conditions for the young also deteriorated, with the employment rate among those aged 15 to 29 down to the 30 to 40 percent range for the first time since March of this year.

According to a report on September employment trends released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Wednesday, the number of overall employed in South Korea was 24.05 million people, an increase of 249 thousand people compared to the same month last year.

This marked the first time the scale of increase in employment has dipped below 300 thousand people since March of this year, when it was 267 thousand people. The NSO attributed this drop to a reduction in the scale of new employment at manufacturing and construction companies due to the Chuseok holiday falling in September this year.

The scale of increase in employment was 252 thousand for manufacturing, down from 297 thousand in August, while the number of newly employed in wholesale and retail sales, food, and lodging was down 92 thousand from one year prior, indicating the continuation of a relative slump in domestic demand hiring.

“The trend is not much different from August, but while the scale of new job creation in manufacturing was very high in the second quarter, this trend has dropped off into the second half of the year,” said Samsung Economic Research Institute researcher Sohn Min-jung. “This stems from a drop-off in the rate of increase in exports and facilities investment compared to the first half of the year.”

With a falling rate of increase in employment, the overall employment rate for September was 59.1 percent, a 0.1 percentage point drop from the same month in 2009, while the number of unemployed increased by 32 thousand people.

The number of employed young people fell by 58 thousand from one year before, while the rate of youth employment was 39.6 percent, the first time it fell to below 40 percent since March 2010, when it was 39.3 percent.

The youth unemployment rate fell to 7.2 percent, a 0.4 percentage point drop from one year before, but a 0.2 percentage point increase from the 7.0 percent registered in August 2010.

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said, “Overall employment conditions for the young have been slow in improving.”

With many public sector employment projects such as the Hope Work Project coming to an end, there has also been an increase in the non-economically active population. This population in September was up by 199 thousand people from one year before, with an increase of 56 thousand in people who have given up looking for employment.

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