A new study suggests South Koreans might be extinct by 2750 if their declining fertility rate doesn't increase, according to The Telegraph UK.
The National Assembly Research Service in Seoul found the fertility rate is at an all-time low at just 1.19 children per woman in 2013, The Independent UK reported.
According to newspaper Chosun Ilbo, that number is well below the required fertility rate to sustain the country's current population of 50 million.
The NARS' simulation shows South Korea's population will decrease to 40 million in 2056 and 10 million by 2136, with the last South Korean dying in 2750, according to The Telegraph.
This would make it the world's first national group to become extinct.
However, the simulation only shows the worst-case scenario and doesn't take into consideration possible immigration policy changes, The Telegraph reported.
But how does a nation as a whole have a low fertility rate?
It is believed the low fertility rate can be attributed to campaigns in the 1980s to restrict family size, according to The Independent. Though the South Korean government has tried to dissolve the trend, the biggest reasons parents are stopping just after one child is "the extremely high cost of private tuition."
What's more, more than 38 percent of South Koreans will be of retirement age by 2050, the National Statistics Office predicted.
Similarly, a 2012 study found Japanese people will go extinct in a thousand years. It is estimated that almost 40 percent of Japanese will be of retirement age by 2050.
But these "extinction" predictions are nothing new.
David Coleman, Oxford University population expert, said South Korea's fertility rate was threatening the nation's existence back in 2006, according to The Independent.
