Metropolitan areas, major cities join population-decline zone list as Busan's Geumjeong-gu, Dongducheon and Tongyeong newly designated

Ministry of Interior and Safety redesignates 92 population-decline zones

Designated areas to receive local extinction response fund, administrative and fiscal benefits

'Population vitality+' regions to keep support for five years

An abandoned house left unattended amid population decline [Yonhap]

Local governments within the greater Seoul metropolitan area and major cities have been newly included in the government's redesignated population-decline zones — a sign that population loss is no longer confined to non-metropolitan regions and that stronger policy support is needed.

The Ministry of Interior and Safety announced Wednesday it would redesignate and officially gazette "population-decline zones" for the first time in five years, as part of efforts to more effectively address the crisis of regional depopulation.

Population-decline zones are designated under a system that identifies areas at risk of local extinction based on indicators including the average annual rate of population change, the aging ratio and the crude birth rate. A separate "population-decline attention" category designates the top 18 areas — outside the main decline zones — with the highest population-decline index scores.

The government first designated 89 population-decline zones and 18 population-decline attention zones in 2021.

This round designates 92 population-decline zones and 18 population-decline attention zones.

Busan's Geumjeong-gu, Dongducheon in Gyeonggi Province and Tongyeong in South Gyeongsang Province were newly added to the population-decline zone list. All three had been classified as population-decline attention zones in 2021 and have now been elevated to full population-decline zone status.

Busan's Buk-gu, Yecheon-gun and Chilgok-gun in North Gyeongsang Province were newly designated as population-decline attention zones.

Local governments in both categories will receive support to plan and carry out their own projects based on response strategies tailored to their specific conditions and characteristics.

Map of population-decline zones designated in 2021 [Ministry of Interior and Safety]

The local extinction response fund — worth 1 trillion won ($736 million) annually — will be allocated with a focus on projects that residents can tangibly feel. The government plans to move beyond simple hardware-driven facility expansion and instead link facilities with content in an integrated way to encourage real activity within communities and boost regional vitality.

Special benefits for designated zones will also continue to be expanded and refined.

Currently, 44 special provisions and tax benefits apply to these areas, including preferential taxation for second homes in rural areas, expanded acquisition tax exemptions for young first-time homebuyers and relaxed employment and residency requirements for foreign nationals.

Among areas showing improved indicators compared with 2021, the following were designated as "population vitality+" regions: Yeonggwang-gun, Busan's Dong-gu and Daegu's Seo-gu from among the population-decline zones; and Gwangju's Dong-gu, Incheon's Jemulpo-gu (formerly Dong-gu), Daejeon's Daedeok-gu, Dong-gu and Jung-gu, Gangneung, Sokcho, Inje-gun and Gyeongju from among the population-decline attention zones.

Local governments classified as "population vitality+" regions will continue to receive existing support for the next five years to sustain their recovery. The government plans to help them achieve a soft landing through structural recovery measures covering improvements to living conditions, promotion of regional vitality and maintenance of daily-life service functions.

Interior and Safety Minister Yun Ho-jung said the redesignation "more accurately reflects the changes in population and regional conditions over the past five years, and refines the system so that areas showing improvement can also maintain continuity of policy support." He added that the government would "concentrate pan-government support suited to local conditions on population-decline zones, while ensuring that population vitality+ regions do not lose the hard-won momentum of recovery — so that communities can generate their own vitality and grow on their own terms."

thlee@heraldcorp.com