A senior fashion show, with contestants only in their 60s, 70s, and 80s, is held at a community center in Banpo-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul in November 2018. (Seocho-gu Office)



SEJONG -- South Korea is projected to become one of eight superaged societies in the world by 2024, alongside the existing five -- Japan, Italy, Germany, Sweden and France -- and two other candidates like to ascend -- Canada and the UK.



A superaged (or post-aged or ultra-aged) society refers to a nation whose elderly population accounts for 20 percent or more of the entire population (one out of every five people), according to a stipulation by the United Nations.



The proportion of seniors, aged 65 or over, came to a fresh high, 15.8 percent in Korea as of March, according to the Ministry of Interior and Safety.



The growth of their percentage is steep, given that the nation just became an aged society in July 2017, when the percentage of elderly population posted 14 percent after becoming an aging society in 2000 with the figure surpassing 7 percent.



Though Statistics Korea had forecast that the year of becoming a superaged society would be 2026 (and 2025 in its revised projection), there is a high possibility that the timing will be advanced by at least one year to 2024.



During the March 2018 to March 2019 period, Korea saw the percentage of seniors of the population climb 0.5 percentage point from 14.4 percent to 14.9 percent.



And the figure jumped by 0.9 percentage point for the next year to 15.8 percent in March 2020, according to the resident-registration data held by the Interior Ministry.



Even under the assumption that the gradient remains the same, growth of 0.9 percentage point per annum, the figures for March 2024 and March 2025 would be 19.4 percent and 20.3 percent, respectively.



There is a high possibility that the pace will accelerate in terms of the seniors’ portion in the coming four years, as the nation is recording the world’s lowest fertility rates and among the steepest growth rates in lifespan around the globe.



(Graphic by Han Chang-duck/The Korea Herald)