S. Korea’s population mobility hits 50-year low in June

SEOUL, July 24 (Xinhua) — South Korea’s population mobility hit the lowest June figure in 50 years due to the aging population and the housing market downturn, statistical office data showed Wednesday.
The number of those who moved residence inside and outside the same province or city stood at 440,000 in June, down 7.1 percent from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea.
It marked the lowest June reading since 1974. The figure had roughly been on the decline amid the aging population.
The population mobility rate, which gauges the number of people moving to a different region for every 100 people, retreated 0.7 percentage points over the year to 10.5 percent in June.
High interest rates led to the housing market slump, which lowered the number of those relocating to new homes.
The central bank had left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 3.50 percent since January last year after hiking it by 3.0 percentage points in phases for the past one and a half years. ■