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There are a third fewer Koreans of elementary school age now than there were in 1980. According to the National Statistical Office, the number of Koreans aged between six and 11 is 3.643 million, down 33.7 percent from 5.499 million in 1980.
The number of Koreans of middle school age also fell by 20.3 percent, while the high school-aged and college-aged populations dropped by 23.9 percent and 31.9 percent, respectively, during the same period.
The reduction in the size of the age groups is an expected result of the shrinking of Korea's birth rate and the nation's overall population. The NSO predicted that the student-age populations would continue to dwindle in the future.
Experts say that the drop in the student-age populations will lead to a drop in the number of economically active people and a vacuum in the labor force, negatively affecting the national economy.
Cho Dong-chul, a research fellow at the Korea Development Institute, said that a continuous drop in the birth rate will cause Korea's potential economic growth rate to tumble from the current 4-percent level.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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