The Era of the population cliff: How to secure science and
technology competitiveness
March 28, 2024
Moon Aree, Editorial Writer and President of WISET
/ Professor of Department of Pharmacy at Duksung Women's University
The low birth rate is alarming in South Korea. According to Statistics Korea in February 2024, the total fertility
rate in the fourth quarter of 2023 was 0.65, a decrease of 0.05 from a year earlier. This figure is less than half
of the average fertility rate of 1.58 in OECD member countries in 2021. According to the Korean Educational
Development Institute, based on its ‘2024–2029 Student Number Projections,’ the number of elementary, middle,
and high school students in the country is expected to drop by nearly 1 million over the next five years. In short,
South Korea is facing the era of a school-age population cliff due to the low birthrate.
The decrease in the school-age population leads to a lack of human resources. As the competition for technology
hegemony intensifies, the whole world is desperate to secure science and technology talent. South Korea is facing
an emergency in the supply and demand of science and technology talent due to the declining population and
the outflow of talented people. The report of the Korea Economic Research Institute, “Competition for Technology
Hegemony and Implications for Science and Technology Talents,” projected a shortage of 47,000 science and
technology research human resources by 2028. It is a concern that the number of graduate students in science and
technology has been declining in recent years.
☞ For more information on the article, please refer to the link below.
Kyosu Shinmun: https://www.kyosu.net/news/articleView.html?idxno=117165