The number of elementary and secondary school students in South Korea declined 2.8 percent this year from a year ago, government data showed Thursday, amid the country's low birth rate.
According to the annual data from the education ministry, the number of students attending kindergartens, elementary, middle and high schools totaled 6.98 million as of April 1 this year, some 201,000 fewer than a year ago. The drop was similar to 2.7 percent for the previous year.