Schools Empty as Child Population Dwindles

Korea's population of school-age children hit an all-time low this year as a result of the low birthrate, dropping to just half the number of its peak in 1986.

The Korean Educational Development Institute on Tuesday said the school-age population stood at 5.88 million as of April 1, down 77,350 or 1.3 percent from a year ago.

The biggest drop was among pre-schoolers with 552,812 children, 29,760 or a whopping 5.1 percent fewer than just a year ago. Ninety-eight kindergartens closed over the year.

Elementary schoolchildren dwindled 0.3 percent, middle school students 0.2 percent, and high schoolers 2.9 percent.

But the number of students from multicultural backgrounds rose 5.4 percent to 168,645. Their number has been on the rise since 2012. The largest proportion or 32.4 percent have parents from Vietnam, followed by Chinese (24.3 percent) and Filipino (9.6 percent).