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South Korea is expected to see the number of children entering elementary school fall below 300,000 for the first time next year, highlighting the growing impact of the country's declining birthrate, KBS World reports. The number of first graders, born in 2020, is projected to drop below 300,000 for the first time, according to data released Sunday, the Korea Times and Yonhap report. Yonhap adds that the 2027 enrollment figure is expected to be just a quarter of what it was nearly 60 years ago, marking a historic low. Korean media frame this as a stark indicator of the demographic crisis, with the decline attributed to the persistently low birth rate.