A new statistical agency report warns that Seoul’s population will shrink to less than three million within a century with those of other major cities to fall below one million amid the rapid aging of society. 

The Statistics Korea report commissioned by the Board of Audit and Inspection forecast the prospective population in 2117, marking the first time the state agency put out a population projection longer than 50 years.

According to the report, which was based on the nation’s fertility rate of zero-point-98 as of 2018, the population of the capital city will decline from nine-point-77 million in 2017 to six-point-29 million in 2067 and two-point-62 million in 2117. 

Populations outside the capital were estimated to diminish at a faster clip with that of the southern port city of Busan to drop from three-point-42 million in 2017 to one-point-91 million in 2067 and 730-thousand in 2117. 

Daegu and Gwangju will see their populations fall to 540-thousand and 350-thousand in 100 years, respectively. The national population was projected to slip to 15-point-one million in 2117 from 51-point-36 million in 2017.