Population committee relaunches as national strategy body after 21 years

With the Framework Act on Population Strategy taking effect Thursday, the Low Birth Rate and Aging Society Committee has been renamed the Population Strategy Committee and now serves as the country's population-policy control tower.

The Population Strategy Committee held a sign-unveiling ceremony at Government Complex Seoul on Thursday to mark its official launch. Attendees included Population Strategy Committee Vice Chairperson Kim Jin-oh, Minister of Health and Welfare Jeong Eun-kyeong, private-sector member Choi Se-mun, and National Assembly member Mo Kyung-jong, who chairs the Democratic Party of Korea's National Youth Committee.

The Low Birth Rate and Aging Society Committee, launched in 2005 to oversee policies on low birth rates and an aging society, spent the past 21 years working to raise the total fertility rate and improve welfare for older residents. But as population changes such as regional imbalances, more diverse household structures and cross-border migration spread their effects across society and the economy, the government established the Population Strategy Committee. The new committee was created to broaden the scope of population policy and address it as a comprehensive national strategy.

The committee plans to release the "First National Population Strategy Basic Plan" later this year. Starting in January 2027, it will also run a prior consultation system for population-policy budgets. Through this system, it will review the mid- to long-term investment direction and priorities of pan-government population policy. It will also ensure that population-related projects across ministries are organically linked to the national population strategy.

Each central administrative agency and provincial government will designate a population policy officer to maintain ongoing policy cooperation with the committee. The first meeting of these officers is planned for October.

"The newly launched Population Strategy Committee will serve as a powerful control tower for national population policy spanning ministries and regions, and as a hub connecting the public with the ground," Kim, the committee's vice chairperson, said. "We will pool our collective wisdom to respond fundamentally and proactively, so that changes in our population structure can become a new opportunity for our country's continued development."