한뉴픽

The Local Extinction Risk Index is a score, which is calculated by dividing the number of women aged 20–39 by the number of people aged 65 and older. This idea was developed by Hiroya Masuda, a former Japanese official. The score has five levels: Low Risk, Normal, Caution, Elevated Risk, and High Risk. Usually, the last two levels are commonly used as ‘areas at risk of disappearing’.

A “crisis” is a situation that brings or could bring danger to individuals, regions, or the whole society, including the economy and social life. Regional extinction happens when the population of a specifc area drops so fast that the social and fnancial systems stop working. In this state, the region can no longer support itself economically or manage its own afairs. This leads to a weak local economy, more social problems due to fewer people, empty city centers, and an imbalance in national development.

In South Korea, 138 out of 229 local districts—about 60%—are facing the risk of extinction. This is because high-quality jobs are concentrated in the Seoul area, leading young people to keep moving away. Also, rural areas lack basic living facilities such as healthcare, education, and culture.

The most serious issue is the lack of medical facilities. When a town’s population drops below 3,000, hospitals and clinics begin to close. In these areas, local public health centers are the only places that take care of residents’ health. However, their legal status lacks clear defnition, so they often miss out on proper support and evaluation. To make matters worse, the confict over increasing medical school seats (from 2024 to 2025) caused a shortage of new doctors. Only 98 new public health doctors joined this year— a 37.2% decrease from the average of previous years. This is a critical issue because most health centers in high-risk areas rely on these doctors. As a result, people in these areas must travel to big cities for better treatment, but even this is hard because public transportation is being reduced as the population shrinks.

As of 2026, Gunwi-gun in Daegu has the lowest extinction risk index. It covers 41% of Daegu’s total land area, making it the largest district in the city. However, its population is only 22,587. The population density is just 36.73 people per km², which is very low compared to Daegu’s average of 1,567.01.

According to the government, there are 13,517 households in Gunwi-gun, but each household has only 1.67 people on average. Also, about half of the total population, 11,160 people are 65 or older. This means most households are elderly people living alone. Because of this situation, the school-age population is very small, and four of the elementary schools in that district have been closed. Although there are six elementary schools in the district, only four are open, and the total number of elementary students in the entire area is only 309. Other areas like Uiseong-gun and Bonghwa-gun face the same problems.

To solve the various problems that cause regional extinction, the government spends about 1 trillion won every year, of the national tax budget. This is called the Regional Extinction Response Fund, which was created to provide fnancial help to areas with shrinking populations, based on the Special Act on Balanced National Development. It is managed according to the law for local government fund management. According to the National Balanced Development Committee at the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, this system started in 2022. The government plans to provide 1 trillion won every year for 10 years, and from this money, 25% goes to large city and provincial governments, and 75% goes to smaller local districts.

Government measures currently in place include designating depopulation zones, operating the Regional Extinction Response Fund, and enacting special legislation. In 2023, the Presidential Commission on Local Autonomy Era was launched, and in 2026, a new “Regional Love Vacation Support Program” was introduced. Under this initiative, 16 cities and counties are selected from depopulation zones, and travelers to these areas receive a 50% reimbursement—up to 100,000 won for solo travelers and 200,000 won for groups of two or more— on accommodation, meals, and activity costs, paid out as mobile regional gift vouchers.
But the most recently introduced program has drawn criticism. Getting to these destinations is a challenge, as local public
transportation systems are inadequate, making travel virtually impossible without a private vehicle. In a 2023 interview with Yonsei Chunchu, Professor Kang Jun-su of Anyang University’s Department of Tourism attributed the decline in domestic travel demand to the fact that local tourist destinations have failed to capture visitors’ interest. Beyond a handful of well-known spots, domestic destinations generally suffer from poor transport accessibility and a significant lack of tourism infrastructure such as accommodation. Other policies in place face their own distinct set of challenges.

Regional extinction is not an accident. It is a structural problem built up over decades. The wave of rural-to-urban migration that began in the 1960s, followed by South Korea’s entry into an aging society around the year 2000, are among the long accumulated forces that have produced today’s extinction risk regions. Because this cannot be resolved overnight through a handful of policies, what is needed is a long-term government plan and targeted response strategies across multiple sectors.

Kim Taehee / Reporter