국토지리학회지 ISSN:1225-3766(Print) THE GEOGRAPHICAL JOURNAL OF KOREA

Population growth is the change in population size in a particular location during a particular time period. Population grows or shrinks through two very basic components; natural change (births and deaths) and migration. The purpose of this paper is to analyze The spatio-temporal change of population growth in the Busan Metropolitan City, Korea. The main findings are as follows. First, the number of births (Crude Birth Rate: CBR) is decreasing, the number of deaths (Crude Death Rate: CDR) is increasing, and the number of natural increase (Rate of Natural Increase: RNI) is decreasing, indicating that the population of Busan is expected to continue to decline naturally. Second, the analysis of population migration shows that net outflows to Busan and Seoul metropolitan areas are still dominant, but the size is declining. The largest net outflow of population from the Busan metropolitan area to Gimhae and Yangsan has been occurring, but the net outflow to Gimhae has been decreasing and the net outflow to Yangsan has been increasing. Third, when natural and social change are considered together, both net migration and natural increase in Busan have been negative (-) since 2018, indicating that the city's population decline is accelerating.