South Korean military faces manpower crisis as birthrate plummets

South Korea’s active military shrank 20 per cent in six years to 450,000 troops, with the defence ministry warning a declining pool of enlistment-age men was creating critical manpower gaps.

The shortfall, driven by the Asian country’s record-low birthrate of 0.75, left the military 50,000 soldiers under the level deemed necessary for defence readiness in 2025, the defence ministry said in a report on Sunday. More worryingly, it noted, there was a shortage of 21,000 non-commissioned officers.

South Korea upholds compulsory military service partly because it remains technically at war with its rival neighbour North Korea.

A study by South Korean researchers released last month noted that the South would need a minimum of 500,000 troops to repel a potential assault from the North, whose active-duty soldiers were estimated to number 1.3 million.

The study warned that the imbalance in troop numbers left South Korea in a “structurally difficult position to succeed in defence” and stressed the need for “decisive action at the national level” to ensure it was able to field at least 500,000 soldiers.

The report was prepared for ruling Democratic Party lawmaker Choo Mi Ae and released by her office.

The population of 20-year-old men in South Korea fell by 30 per cent between 2019 and 2025 to about 230,000, according to government data.

Age 20 is when most men who pass the physical exam begin their compulsory military service in South Korea.

The country is one of the world’s fastest-ageing societies. It recorded the lowest fertility rate – the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime – globally of 0.75 last year.

South Korea’s population peaked at 51.8 million in 2020 and is projected to drop to 36.2 million by 2072.