396 townships with fewer than 2,000 residents — 13 times more than 30 years ago

The number of townships with fewer than 2,000 residents has grown to 396 across South Korea — more than 13 times the 30 recorded in 1990. As young people leave rural areas and the population ages, more communities are struggling to sustain the restaurants, pharmacies and other everyday facilities their residents depend on.

A report titled "Strategies and Tasks for Transforming Rural Policy," released Saturday by the Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI), counted 396 townships with fewer than 2,000 residents in 2024, accounting for 28.2 percent of all townships nationwide — roughly 3 in every 10.

The count stood at just 30 in 1990 before surging to 170 by 2000. It rose sharply again to 354 in 2010, held at that level through 2020, then climbed to 396 in 2024 — a 13.2-fold increase from 1990. The share of all townships these communities represent rose from 2.1 percent to 28.2 percent over the same period.

The decline is particularly pronounced in areas already designated as population-decline zones. The Ministry of Interior and Safety has designated 89 cities, counties and districts nationwide as population-decline regions. Among townships in the county-level areas within those zones, 39.3 percent had fewer than 2,000 residents in 2024 — more than three times the 11.3 percent recorded in non-designated counties. In population-decline urban-rural composite cities, the share was 34.3 percent, also well above the 11.4 percent seen in their non-designated counterparts.

Proportion of townships with fewer than 2,000 residents, by region type. [Provided by Korea Rural Economic Institute]

The shrinking population is pulling essential services down with it. In townships that have lost the most residents, shops, pharmacies, clinics and hair salons have been closing or disappearing altogether.

Prior research cited in the report found that many basic daily-life facilities — restaurants, gas stations, hair salons, laundries and bathhouses — tend to close when a township's population falls to around 2,000. An analysis of closures between 2010 and 2020 across 612 depopulating townships found that restaurants typically shut down when the local population dropped to around 1,882, bakeries at around 1,810 and gas stations at around 1,109. Pharmacies tended to close at around 2,604 residents and medical clinics at around 2,685.

The gap in living conditions between urban and rural areas persists. A KREI survey of 3,650 urban and rural residents found that satisfaction with health and welfare services scored 6.8 out of 10 in cities, compared with 5.4 in rural and fishing communities. Satisfaction with education and culture was 6.3 in cities and 5.4 in rural areas. Economic conditions and employment scored the lowest of all categories surveyed, at 5.2 in cities and 4.8 in rural areas.

KREI called for a shift away from rural policies focused primarily on expanding physical infrastructure, recommending a more diversified approach instead. The institute said communities should be empowered to plan and operate their own local services at the township level, while digital technology and mobile service delivery should be expanded alongside efforts to revitalize rural economies and develop future-oriented rural living zones.

"Rural policy going forward must go beyond simply responding to population decline and move toward actively leveraging the economic, environmental and cultural value that rural areas hold," said Seong Ju-in, a senior research fellow at KREI. "Policies are needed to strengthen the foundation for resident- and community-led self-governance, and to cultivate rural areas as a core space driving balanced national growth and sustainable development."