An older man harvests eggplants at a farm in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, in this August 2023 file photo. Korea Times file

The number of Koreans moving from cities to find a second life in rural or fishing communities experienced the largest decrease on record in 2023, data showed Tuesday.

According to research co-published by Statistics Korea, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, the number of people who moved to rural areas to become farmers fell to 10,307 last year, a 16.7 percent decrease from the year before. The number of those who moved to become fishers also declined by 24.7 percent, reaching just 716.

This represents the most significant reduction in both categories since the data was first recorded in 2013.

The numbers increased in 2020 and 2021 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country as the job market in cities stagnated. Since then, the figure has been continuously decreasing.

"So far, the population was driven by retirees in their 60s," Statistics Korea explained. "The recent increase in older adult employment in urban areas seems to have led to a decrease in the number of people moving to rural areas."

Last year, the manufacturing sector accounted for 9.6 percent of older adult employment, up from 9.4 percent the previous year. The ratio of those working in social welfare services also rose from 13.2 percent to 13.7 percent. In contrast, the proportion of older adults employed in agriculture, forestry and fisheries decreased from 18.5 percent to 17.6 percent.

Such a trend decreased the proportion of people aged 60 and over moving to rural areas from 46.5 percent to 45.8 percent. In 2023, the average age of those who moved to become farmers was 56.3, while those who moved to become fishers was 52.9.

"The retirement of the second baby boomer generation (those born between 1968 and 1974) and the ongoing demand for rural living are expected to sustain the trend of relocating to rural areas," an agriculture ministry official said.

Yet, diving deeper, data showed that skepticism about rural lives, specifically regarding what lies in their economic futures, is impacting their decisions as well.

According to a separate survey conducted by the agriculture ministry in 2023, the average annual household income for those in their fifth year of farming was only 35.79 million won ($25,800). Thirty-five percent of respondents identified income as a major challenge associated with farming, followed by labor difficulties at 19.4 percent and lack of infrastructure at 14.2 percent.

"Most areas at high risk of demographic decline are in rural and fishing communities. Population issues have reached a level that threatens their very existence. Policies encouraging people to return or relocate to rural areas are more crucial than ever to address the rural population crisis," the National Assembly Research Service said in its report in 2023.