Abstract
There is a serious risk of regional extinction due to low birth rate and aging in Korea. Accordingly, the regional extinction index is applied to diagnose the extinction status of cities, counties, and districts. However, when the regional extinction index was applied to rural villages, most villages were found to be at 'high risk of extinction'. There is no differentiation in the level of extinction of rural villages. Therefore, a village extinction index was developed to apply to rural villages. This study applies and compares the existing regional extinction index and the newly developed village extinction index to rural villages. The purpose is to propose an index that can better diagnose the extinction of rural villages. As a research method, the regional extinction index and village extinction index are applied to all villages in Haengjeong-ri villages in South Chungcheong Province. And the adequacy of the index suitable for rural villages is diagnosed. For this purpose, ➂ stage distribution for each two indices, ➂ demographic aspect diagnosis, and ➂ resident awareness survey were analyzed. When the village extinction index was used, the discrimination problems seen in the regional extinction index were overcome. As a result of the demographic analysis, the regional extinction index showed that villages with a population of 200 or more were at 'high risk of extinction', but the village extinction index was derived as 'high risk of extinction' for villages with underpopulated populations. Lastly, the results of the residents' awareness survey also showed that the village extinction index was well reflected in the actual situation of rural villages when applied. When the village extinction index was applied to rural villages rather than the regional extinction index, it was found to reflect the actual state of rural extinction better.