APA Lecture Series on National Population 10. South Korea: The Population of South Korea and the Impact of COVID-19 on Its Mortality | 26 September 2024

Lecture Series on National Population
10. South Korea
The Population of South Korea and the Impact of COVID-19 on Its Mortality
26 September 2024

Asian Population Association announces its tenth session of the Lecture Series on National Population, on South Korea, with the program below. Please register and participate.

< Date >

Thursday 26^th September 2024

< Time >

14:00 ～ (Bangkok time), 16:00 ～ (Seoul time)

< Speaker >

Prof. Doo-Sub Kim (Emeritus Professor at Hanyang University and the Former President of the Asian Population Association)

< Title >

The Population of South Korea and the Impact of COVID-19 on Its Mortality

< Abstract >

This study explores the impact that COVID-19 has had on mortality in South Korea. This presentation offers an overview of the demographic transition and population profiles in South Korea, followed by a brief on the mortality transition and changes in the cause of death. After reviewing the spread of COVID-19 and the distinctive features of COVID-19 deaths, the presentation introduces an estimation of the excessive number of deaths due to COVID-19. This study utilizes the daily COVID-19 statistics from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), the monthly mortality data from Statistics Korea, and the weekly mortality data from the Human Mortality Database (HMD). Government statistics on COVID-19 deaths suffer from underestimation due to their dependency on the amount of COVID-19 confirmation tests. Besides, official statistics do not capture deaths due to COVID-19 complications or deaths from other causes attributable to the pandemic crisis. Results of the analysis show that the excess deaths over the COVID-19 pandemic were 3.2 times larger than the COVID-19 deaths reported by KDCA. Almost half of the excess deaths occurred between November 2021 and April 2022, when the Omicron variant widely spread in South Korea. There was a severe age disparity in the excess deaths. Among those under age 15, the number of deaths was fewer in the early stage of the pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period. Around 41.1% and 63.3% of the excess deaths occurred among male and female elderly aged 85 or over, respectively. Finally, due to a heavy composition of females in the elderly population, the number of female excess deaths was about 34.2% larger than male excess deaths. However, the COVID-19 fatality rate was around 13.6% higher for males than females.

< About the Speaker >

Prof. Doo-Sub KIM is an Emeritus Professor at Hanyang University. He is the Former President of the Asian Population Association, the Former President of the Population Association of Korea, and the Former Editor of the Korean Journal of Sociology and the Korean Journal of Population Studies. He received his BA and MA from Seoul National University, and Ph.D. from Brown University. He taught at Hanyang University for 38 years and received many significant awards, including the Order of Service Merit (2004) and the Order of Civil Merit (2018) from the President of Korea. His main research areas are fertility, demographic transition, cross-border marriage, and research methodology. He has published 38 books/monographs and some 160 journal articles and book chapters. His publications include International Marriage of Koreans and the Adaptation of Foreign Spouses (2015), Cross-Border Marriage: Global Trends and Diversity (2012), Cross-Border Marriage: Process and Dynamics (2008), The ‘IMF Economic Crisis’ and Changes in the Korean Fertility (2007), and The Population of Korea (2004).

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The past Lecture Series on National Population

9. Sri Lanka by E. L. Sunehthra J. Perera, on 14^th March 2024

8. Singapore by Tan Poh Lin, on 19^th January 2024

7. Iran by Fatemeh Torabi, on 5^th October 2023

6. Thailand by Sureeporn Punpuing, on 31^st July 2023

5. Australia by Edith Grey, on 27^th April 2023

4. Bangladesh by Mohammad Mainul Islam, on 26^th January 2023

3. Nepal by Samir KC, on 11^th October 2022, co-hosted by ADRI

2. Indonesia by Evi Nurvidya Arifin, on 15^th June 2022, co-hosted by ADRI

1. India by K.S. James, on 11^th April 2022, co-hosted by IPSS