The population of females surpassed that of males in South Korea for the first time since the state registration system began tallying demographics in the late 1960s, statistics showed Sunday.

The Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs said that as of June this year, there were a total of 25,715,796 registered females, 492 more than the 25,715,304 males.

By the end of July, the number of women surged further to 25,725,414, widening the gap by 2,645. The difference continues to grow monthly with the differential as of last month reaching 4,804, the ministry said.

Statistics have shown a steady balance led by males until this year with the number of men per 100 women never having dropped below 100.

Based on the population of registered Koreans in 1995, men outnumbered women by 224,705. The disparity, however, dropped to below 200,000 by 1998 and further by 79,584 in 2011.

By the end of last year, the gap had narrowed down to 10,676, before women eventually outnumbered men six months later, the ministry said.

Analysts said the shift is a result of the aging society and a better balance of sex ratio at birth.

Since usually women tend to have longer average life expectancies, countries with a high percentage of seniors tend to show larger numbers of women.

While the sex ratio of baby boys per 100 baby girls in the 1990s had reached as high as 116.5, it has constantly declined to reach 105.3 recently.

Observers said the recent trend means there will be more women that end up living alone, which could lead to aggravated elderly poverty and societal burden.

“When you look into poverty among the elderly, a large part of it overlaps with the problems associated with female seniors living alone. ... We need a social safety network and system that can counteract with the changes in the population composition,” said Information Technology-Finance Management professor Kim Yong-ha of Soonchunhyang University.

From news reports