In South Korea, marriages and birth rates are petering out year by year, resulting in an aged population that is projected to surpass that of Japan and Europe by 2045 and making the country’s aged population proportionally the largest in the world, according to official data. South Koreans aged 65 and older made up 14.9 percent of the country’s total population in 2019 but will reach 37 percent by 2045, even higher than that of Japan, according to statistics released by the Korea Statistics Office on Sept. 2, 2019. The office estimated that by 2067, the elderly will represent 46.5 percent of the population, which will mean South Korea will have the largest proportion of elderly people in the world. Aging Population and Birth Rate The Ministry of Health and Welfare said on Oct.1 that there are currently 10,935 elderly people aged over 100 in South Korea, with 2,012 people newly …