Ulsan launches five-year population policy plan to stem youth exodus

Ulsan has begun drafting a population policy to guide the next five years as the city grapples with a youth exodus and an increasingly unbalanced demographic structure.

The city held an interim research briefing Wednesday at the situation room on the seventh floor of city hall, chaired by Deputy Mayor for Economic Affairs Shin Min-sik. About 30 people attended, including academics, population experts from related agencies and researchers from the Ulsan Research Institute, which is conducting the study. The session focused on the second comprehensive population policy plan for Ulsan covering 2027–2031.

The briefing reviewed the interim results of the first plan (2022–2026), which wraps up this year, and explored the direction of future population policy. Among the achievements highlighted were the opening of a public postpartum care center in Buk-gu and the establishment of a pediatric after-hours clinic — a designated facility allowing children and adolescents to receive outpatient care on weekday evenings, weekends and public holidays without visiting an emergency room — as examples of expanded residential infrastructure.

Building on those results, the city said it would take a comprehensive approach linking residential conditions — including the opening of a public hospital, expansion of cultural tourism infrastructure and new road construction — directly to population policy.

Ulsan's population stood at about 1.086 million as of August, down 6,616 from about 1.093 million a year earlier. Officials attributed the decline mainly to residents in their 20s leaving for the greater Seoul area in search of jobs and education opportunities. A recent influx of women of childbearing age and a recovery in marriage numbers pushed the total fertility rate to 1.05 in the second quarter of this year.

To sustain that rebound, the city plans to review its existing life-cycle population policies and strengthen related measures in the second comprehensive plan. It also unveiled a vision of "Ulsan — a city where people gather and lives take root," centered on creating jobs in emerging industries such as AI, future mobility and hydrogen as the city navigates what it calls the era of industrial AI transformation.

Ulsan plans to incorporate feedback from city departments and experts in December before officially releasing the second comprehensive population policy plan in January next year.