The bureaucracy is aging at a sharper pace, in line with the fast-aging population of Korea, where one out of five citizens is anticipated to be aged 65 or older by 2025. Young people shunning civil service jobs are also accelerating the aging of the group.

According to data released by Rep. Yang Bu-nam, 63, of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), Thursday, the number of regular employees at the central government increased by 21,983 across all ministries from 2014 to 2023.

The data was compiled by the Ministry of Personnel Management and submitted to Yang.

Of the 21,983, those aged 50 or older made up 68 percent.

The lawmaker noted that such a trend marks a significant change from the past when those in their 20s and 30s largely led the increase of the civil service workforce at the ministries.

The data also showed that those in their 50s or older took 27.9 percent of the total central government employees in 2022, which is more than those in their 30s at 25.9 스포츠 percent. In 2019, the ratio of those in their 30s was 27.5 percent, higher than those in their 50s or older at 25.7 percent.

The lawmaker assessed that the change is related to the waning popularity of the civil service sector among job seekers in their 20s and 30s.

Separate data from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety showed that the number of low-level civil servants who quit their jobs nearly doubled to 13,321 from 2019 to 2023.

Mainly in their 20s and 30s, they picked low salary and highly demanding workload as reasons for their departure.

Yang said, “Under the circumstances, the government should come up with measures to nurture younger bureaucrats, and to minimize the adverse impacts of the aging society.”