South Korea’s military shrinks by 20% as low birthrate hits recruitment | South Korea

According to a report, the South Korean army has decreased by 20% due to a sharp decrease in the population of men with a registration age for compulsory service in the country, which has largely the lowest birth rate in the world.

The Ministry of Defense said in the report that the sharp decrease in the male pool for military service also caused a deficiency in the number of civil servants and may cause operational difficulties.

The report was made to Choo Mi-Ae, the Parliament of the Democratic Party in the ruling ruling democratic party, whose office released it.

The size of the South Korean army has fell steadily since the early 2000s, when there were about 690,000 soldiers. In the late 2010s, the speed accelerated and currently there are about 450,000 soldiers.

According to the latest estimation of the Ministry of Defense in 2022, North Korea is believed to have a about 1.2 million active army.

According to government data, the population of 20 -year -old men in South Korea fell between 30 and 230,000% between 2019 and 2025. Twenty, the age of most men passing physical examination is the age of military service.

South Korea is one of the fastest aging societies in the world and has the lowest fertility rate in the world at 0.75 in 2024, which shows the average number of infants expected to have a woman throughout the reproductive life.

According to a government projection, its population, which reached 51.8 million peaks in 2020, is expected to fall to 36.2 million by 2072.

The country’s armed forces showed improved skills as a key reason to shorten the service times that made it possible by the development of a defense industry that has become a military alliance with the US and a large weapon exporter.

In 1953, when the Korean War resulted in a ceasefire, he served for 36 months.

South Korea’s defense budget won more than 61tn in 2025 (£ 33 billion), greater than the estimated size of the northern economy.

Nevertheless, he said that the country’s army was 50,000 units shorter than the number that was considered sufficient to protect defense preparation. The authority said that approximately 21,000 of the deficiency is in the rank of unjust civil servants.