South Korea's population mobility rate hit the lowest in 47 years last year due to the fast population aging and the government's measures to tighten loan standard for home purchases, statistical agency data showed Wednesday.

The number of those who changed residence to a different province or city was 7,104,000 in 2019, down 2.6 percent, or 193,000, from the previous year, according to Statistics Korea.

The population mobility rate, which gauges the number of people moving to a different region for every 100 people, fell 0.4 percentage points over the year to 13.8 percent in 2019, marking the lowest in 47 years since 1972.

The rapid aging population led to an increased number of those in their 60s or higher who tend not to move to a different region.

The country became an aged society in 2018 when the proportion of those aged 65 or higher topped 14 percent.

The government unveiled a set of measures to curb speculative investment in the real estate market by tightening standard for mortgage loans among multiple homeowners, resulting in the weakened home transactions.

The number of housing transactions declined 6.0 percent in 2019 from a year earlier.