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Changes in the populations of Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. Data: Ministry of the Interior

After 28 years, Seoul’s era as a metropolis of 10 million people has come to an end.

According to resident registration statistics published by South Korea’s Ministry of the Interior on June 1, the number of people registered in Seoul dropped from 10,002,979 in April of this year to 9,995,784 in May.

This is the first time that the population of South Korea’s capital city has dipped below 10 million line the city first surpassed that mark in 1988.

Seoul’s population has been shrinking for 15 consecutive months since Mar. 2015, leading to a total decrease of 109,422 people. And the population decrease has been growing each month, dropping by 3,644 people in January of this year, 4,276 in February, 4,673 in March, 6,609 in April and 7,195 in May.

The net population outflow from Seoul in April was 10,658 (calculated by subtracting the people coming into the city from those leaving it), the highest figure of any city or province in South Korea. Given that Seoul’s net migration has remained negative since Mar. 2009, Seoul’s population is unlikely to rise above 10 million again.

The number of babies born in Seoul has fallen 38% over the past 15 years, from 131,000 in 2000 to 82,000 last year.

In contrast, Gyeonggi Province had a population of 12,594,829 people in May of this year, which was up 6.85% from 2010 (11,786,622). Gyeonggi Province broke the 10 million population barrier for the first time in 2003, when it recorded a population of 10,206,851, overtaking Seoul. Today, the province’s population is 26% larger than the capital city.

As of this May, Seoul’s population accounted for 19.37% of the population of South Korea. In 1992, Seoul’s population represented nearly a quarter of the country’s entire population (24.6%), but it slipped below the 20% mark for the first time in 2013 (19.8%). Since then, it has continued to decrease, falling to 19.7% in 2014 and 19.4% in 2015.

By Won Nak-yeon, staff reporter

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