New data finds that half of all farmers in the nation are aged 65 or older.

According to data released by Statistics Korea on Wednesday, the number of farming households stood at one million-23-thousand as of December 1 of last year, while the number of agricultural professionals amounted to some two-point-16 million.

Both figures saw drops from 2021 after many gave up farming or changed occupations due to the aging society.

The data found that 49-point-eight percent of the agricultural population was 65 or older, up three percentage points from 2021, to post the highest rate since related statistics began to be compiled in 1986.

The figure is also nearly three times higher than the total percentage of the population in the elderly demographic at 18 percent, with those aged 70 or older accounting for the largest share among the elderly in farming households at 756-thousand.

One in five farms was found to be a single-person household.