The shrinking population of South Korea's Busan has entered the stage of disappearance

Recently, South Korea's population problem has aroused hot debate, according to foreign media reports, with the low fertility rate and aging population, South Korea's second largest city Busan is showing signs of "entering the vanishing stage" due to the shrinking population.

The report refers to a city's "vanishing risk index", which divides the total number of women aged 20 to 39 by the number of people aged 65 and over.

An index greater than 1.5 is considered low risk, 1.0 to 1.5 is normal, 0.2 to 0.5 is considered to be entering the disappearance stage, and below 0.2 is considered high risk of disappearance. Busan's disappearance risk index is 0.490, while the national average in South Korea is 0.615.

Last month, South Korean President Yoon Seok-yoon declared a "national population emergency" due to a shrinking population.

Yoon vowed to do all he could to tackle the ultra-low birth rate, saying South Korea's population could eventually become extinct if it did not reverse its ageing trend.

Earlier data showed that nearly a quarter of primary schools in South Korea had fewer than 60 pupils and about a tenth had fewer than 30 pupils.