Seoul student rolls fall below 800,000 amid low birthrate

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.

The number of classes also declined. Seoul had 37,294 classes this year, down 803, or 2.1%, from 38,097 last year.

But because the class count fell more slowly than the number of students, the average number of students per class also declined. The average class size was 23.0 students, down from 23.3 last year and 23.4 in 2022.

By school level, elementary schools averaged 20.8 students per class, down 0.5 from a year earlier. Middle schools averaged 25.6 students per class, down 0.3. High schools averaged 24.7 students per class, unchanged from last year. Middle schools had the largest average class size among elementary, middle and high schools.

The total number of schools in Seoul stood at 2,092, down 15 from 2,107 last year. The number of kindergartens fell by 16 to 724, while the number of high schools rose by one to 319 with the opening of Heukseok High School. The number of elementary schools and middle schools remained unchanged at 609 and 390.

The education office said it organized classes with the goal of lowering the number of students per class while considering the shrinking school-age population, widening regional differences in student numbers and reductions in teacher quotas.

The office said it plans to use mid- and long-term student population projections to guide class operations, foster appropriately sized schools and reduce regional gaps in education.

-- Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

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Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260607010002106

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This story was originally published June 7, 2026 at 6:37 PM.