South Korea records 301,442 elementary entrants, a record low
First-grade intake is projected to fall below 300,000 in 2027 for the first time, as smaller birth cohorts reach school age.
Loading… Բեռնվում է…
First-grade intake is projected to fall below 300,000 in 2027 for the first time, as smaller birth cohorts reach school age.
South Korea recorded 301,442 new elementary school entrants in 2026, the lowest intake since records began in 1964. Reports based on birth and enrollment data project that the number will fall below 300,000 in 2027 for the first time.
The decline follows a fall from 401,907 in 2023 to 353,828 in 2024, when elementary intake dropped below 400,000, and then to 324,079 in 2025. The figures come from data released 8 November by the Korean Statistical Information Service and the Korean Educational Development Institute, Herald Business said.
Most children due to start school in 2027 were born in 2020, when the Ministry of Data and Statistics recorded 272,337 births. That is a count of births, not a final enrollment figure: early entry, time spent abroad, deaths and foreign children living in South Korea all affect the number who start school.
From 2007 to 2026, enrollment averaged 2.6 percent below the corresponding birth cohort. Herald Business expects first-grade intake to reach the low 200,000s in 2030, when children born in 2023 reach school age. Children born in 2024, when births rose to 238,317, are typically expected to start school in 2031. Births rose again to 254,341 in 2025, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics.
The cumulative number of elementary, middle and high schools that had closed reached 4,037 in 2026, up from 4,008 in 2025, an analysis by the Korean Educational Development Institute found. VnExpress attributed the figures to South Korea’s Ministry of Education data.
The Korea Herald said very small schools outside the capital region could offer children fewer chances to spend time with peers and find it harder to provide a wide range of programs. If educational gaps widen, the newspaper said, families could move to the capital region, further reducing enrollment in the communities they leave.
The pressure extends to Seoul: Deungmyeong Elementary School had no new first graders in 2026. The local education office has proposed closing it and transferring its students to two nearby schools effective 1 March 2028.
Enrollment notices are expected to begin going out in December 2026, ahead of the spring intake; Herald Business expects their number to remain below 300,000.
The Palantir security chief is the nominee to lead an agency that has gone 22 months without a Senate-confirmed head.
1 min
The department seeks $53 million for passengers with disabilities it alleges Lyft discriminated against and who complained to the company or the department.
1 min
The two leaders also witnessed the exchange of 9 cooperation documents from a total of 11 signed in Tokyo, covering areas from energy to education.
3 min
