South Korea's population is set to exceed 50 million on Saturday, becoming the 26th country in the world to reach the mark.

The country's population is estimated to hit the landmark at around 6:36 pm (local time), 29 years after it reached 40 million in 1983, according to a report by Statistics Korea.

With a population of 50 million, South Korea is poised to account for 0.71 percent of the world's population which is expected to cross 7.05 billion on the same day.

The report predicted that the population of the country will decline steadily after hitting its peak at 52.16 million in 2030. From 2045, the population is forecast to fall below 50 million due to the country's low birth rate.

South Korea's total fertility rate, the average number of children a woman is expected to bear over her lifetime, will stand at 1.23 from 2010 through 2015, the report said.

The report however showed that if the fertility rate rises and reaches 1.79 by 2060, the county's population will stay above 50 million for 13 more years and the aging of society could be pushed back by about 14 years.