National net migration rate by city and province in February 2021. Photo = Courtesy of Statistics KoreaThe outflow of Daejeon’s population is accelerating uncontrollably. The number of births has only declined over the years, while the net outflow of more than 1,000 people over the past month. Due to this trend, there are concerns that the collapse of the 1.45 million population in Daejeon has entered the countdown.
According to the’Domestic Movement Statistics for February 2021′ released by the National Statistical Office on the 24th, the number of people who moved into Daejeon was 22,046 and 2,280 people who moved out. That number increased from the same period last year, when 1059 people were outflowed. Daejeon had the fourth highest population migration rate in the country after Ulsan, Daegu, and Seoul.
Looking at the population trend of other provinces in the Chungcheong area in the same month, the phenomenon of population decline in Daejeon is even more pronounced. In the case of Sejong, 1497 people moved in, with 7717 people moving in and 6220 people moving out. Chungnam moved to 27,481 and moved out to 27,628, down by 147, while Chungbuk moved to 2,952 and moved to 22,25, resulting in a decrease of 273. Among the Chungcheong area, the outflow of Daejeon’s population is the most obvious.
The trend of the natural growth of Daejeon’s population (birth-death) is also decreasing. According to the’Population Trends for January 2021′ released by the National Statistical Office on the same day, the natural increase in the population of Daejeon fell sharply from 1934 in 2018 to 908 in 2019 and -92 last year. This is because the number of births is decreasing while the number of deaths is increasing. The number of births in Daejeon is decreasing every day to 9337 in 2018, 8410 in 2019, and 7480 last year. In terms of the crude birth rate, which means the number of births per 1,000 people per year, Daejeon has decreased by 0.4 from 5.9 in January of last year to 5.5 in January of this year. This is less than the national average (5.7 people). Compared to declining births, the number of deaths is on the rise. It is gradually increasing from 7403 in 2018 and 7502 in 2019 to 7573 last year.
In the Chungcheong area, the natural increase in Sejong’s population was remarkably high. The natural growth of Sejong’s population was 2,154 last year, a slight decline from 2018 (2444) and 2019 (2598), but it is still increasing.
Daejeon is steadily entering the age of population cliffs, starting with 1,533,349 people in July 2014. After the collapse of the 1.5 million line to 1.49,187 in February 2018, it continues to shrink. As of February this year, the population of Daejeon is 1.46 million, 2064. Reporter Jung Min-ji