Migration of South Koreans in the country was at the slowest pace in 43 years in 2022 due to a steep drop in housing transactions and a rapid aging population, government data showed Monday.

The number of people who moved within the country last year fell 14.7 percent, or 1.06 million, on year to 6.15 million, marking the lowest amount since 1979 when the decrease was 1.08 million, according to the data from Statistics Korea.

The population mobility rate, or the number of those changing residence for every 100 people, was 12.0 percent, the lowest since 1972 when it was 11.0 percent.

A slump in housing transactions directly affected the slowdown in population movement last year. From January to November last year, the number of home sales was 480,000, down by more than half compared to 961,000 cases in the same period a year ago.

A net 44,000 people moved in Gyeonggi Province, the surrounding area of Seoul, last year. Other top cities and provinces in the net inflow of population were Incheon, South Chungcheong Province, Sejong, Gangwon Province, North Chungcheong Province and Jeju.

By Lee Jong-hyuk and Minu Kim

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]