South Korea's Birth Rate Sees First Rise in 19 Months

The number of babies born in South Korea soars for the first time in 19 months in April, according to new data.

According to the data compiled by Statistics Korea, a total of 19,049 babies were born in April 2024, up 2.8 percent from a year earlier, Yonhap news agency reported. It was the first time since September 2022 that the figure logged on-year growth ().

"The growth came as the number of newly married couples rose over the past couple of years after the COVID-19 pandemic, though it remains to be seen if such an uptrend could continue," said an agency official.

The rebound was also partly attributable to a high base effect, as the number of newborns hit an all-time low of 18,528 in April 2023, falling 12.5 percent on-year.

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South Korea's total fertility rate, averaging the number of children a woman aged 15-49 has in her lifetime, dropped to 0.81.

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Lowest Birth Rate in the World

During the first four months of 2024, however, the number of newborns reached a record low of 79,523.The total fertility rate, which means the average number of expected births from a woman in her lifetime, also hit a record yearly low of 0.72, which came far below the 2.1 births per woman needed to maintain a stable population without immigration.

In the first quarter of 2024, the fertility rate came to 0.76, falling 0.06 on-year. The number of deaths rose 4 percent on-year to 28,659 in April 2024, and the population, accordingly, declined by 9,610. Deaths outpaced that of newborns since November 2019.

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Marriage and Divorce Rate in South Korea

The number of couples getting married surged 24.6 percent on-year to 18,039 in April, following a 5.5 percent fall the previous month. The number of couples getting divorced went up 5.7 percent on-year to 7,701, the data showed.

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Why is the South Korean Birth Rate so low?

South Korea is experiencing grim demographic changes (), as many young people opt to postpone or give up on getting married or having babies in line with changing social norms and lifestyles. Many have also pointed to high home prices and a tough job market as major reasons.

South Korea is expected to be a highly aged country by 2072 as the median age will increase from 44.9 in 2022 to 63.4 in 2072, and the population will tumble to around 36.22 million in 2072 from last year's 51 million.

References:

S. Korea's childbirths hit another low in Sept. - (https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20221123003300320)
Demographics and the Future of South Korea - (https://carnegieendowment.org/posts/2021/06/demographics-and-the-future-of-south-korea)

Source-IANS

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