A first grade student (R) greets senior students as he attends an entrance ceremony alone at an elementary school in PyeongChang, South Korea, 03 March 2026. Twenty-one elementary schools in the province each had only one first-grade student attending entrance ceremonies that day, while 20 other schools failed to hold them because there were no enrolled first-grade students. Photo YONHAP / EPA
June 7 (Asia Today) -- The number of students in Seoul has fallen below 800,000 as South Korea's low birthrate continues to shrink the school-age population, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said Sunday.
According to the education office's 2026 class organization data for kindergartens, elementary, middle, high, special and miscellaneous schools, Seoul had 782,104 students this year. That was down 28,304, or 3.5%, from 810,408 last year.
The number of students in Seoul has fallen by 98,266, or 11.2%, since 2022, when the city had 880,370 students. The decline shows that the contraction of the school-age population is becoming a structural trend.
Student numbers fell across all major school levels. Elementary schools had 323,802 students, down 16,737, or 4.9%, from a year earlier, marking the largest decline. Middle schools had 193,896 students, down 5,694, or 2.9%, while high schools had 197,888 students, down 5,199, or 2.6%. Kindergarten enrollment fell by 709, or 1.2%, to 58,683.
