South Korea is facing a serious decline in the number of children entering elementary school. In Gangwon Province alone, 20 schools enrolled no first-grade students this year, while 21 schools had only one new student. This trend is not limited to rural areas. Even a normally operating school in Seoul’s Gangseo District had no first graders for the first time.
Nationwide, 210 elementary schools failed to enroll a single new student in 2026, an 81% increase compared to five years ago. The main reason is the country’s extremely low fertility rate. Although it slightly rose from 0.72 in 2023 to 0.8 in 2025, the number of children remains too small to sustain many schools.
Audio Session
Low Birth Rate Leads to Empty Classrooms in South Korea
Class B
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Difficult Words
- decline – a slow decrease or reduction in number, amount, or quality
- trend – a general direction in which something is developing or changing
- nationwide – happening across the whole country
- enroll – to officially join a school or course as a student
- fertility rate – the average number of children born to a woman in a country
- sustain – to keep something continuing for a long time
Additional Info
- What educational problem is South Korea experiencing?
- Is the issue limited to rural areas? Explain.
- How many schools had zero new students nationwide in 2026?
- Why is the number of students decreasing?
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