The government has forecast a shortage of nearly one million nursing care workers in two decades as demand is set to surpass supply amid a super-aging society.

The health ministry made the projection on Tuesday at a session of the Presidential Committee on Ageing Society and Population Policy.

According to the outcome of the ministry-led study, the number of seniors aged 85 and older requiring nursing care is expected to more than triple from the current one-point-13 million to three-point-72 million by 2045.

Based on seniors approved for long-term care, the number is predicted to rise from one-point-06 million as of 2023 to two-point-62 million by 2043.

The number of care workers, however, is projected to gradually increase from the current 610-thousand to a maximum of just over 800-thousand by the mid-2030s, before starting to decline.

The ministry said 990-thousand additional care workers are likely to be necessary in 2043 to maintain the ratio of one-point-five to one-point-nine seniors per worker.