Seoul, November 27 (IANS). September brought good news for South Korea, which is troubled by the continuously decreasing population. This is the first time in almost 14 years that a large number of newborns were born in this month. South Korea is struggling to cope with severe demographic changes involving a declining birth rate and rapidly increasing age.
A total of 20,590 babies were born in September, according to data compiled by Statistics Korea, an increase of 10.1 percent (an increase of 1,884 newborns) from a year earlier, Yonhap news agency reported.
Let us tell you that this is the biggest annual increase since January 2011, when there was an increase of 10.8 percent in the birth of children.
“The increase is due to more weddings being conducted from the second half of 2022 to the first half of 2023 after weddings were delayed during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Im Young-il, an agency official, told a press briefing. .
The agency said a total of 61,288 babies were born in the third quarter of this year, which is 8 percent more than the same period last year. The number also marks the largest quarterly increase since the third quarter of 2012.
The total fertility rate in the country in the third quarter stood at 0.76, which shows the average number of children a woman will have in her lifetime. For the January-September period this rate stood at 0.74.
The nine-month figure is higher than the 0.72 recorded for the full year of 2023, which is the lowest level since 1970.
Young-il said, “It is very likely that the total fertility rate could exceed 0.72 in 2024 and if the current trend continues in the fourth quarter, it could even reach around 0.74. However, It is too early to say that this figure is very good as it is still very low compared to other countries.”
South Korea is grappling with a steady decline in its birth rate, as increasing numbers of young people are choosing to delay or avoid marriage and parenthood.
To encourage marriage and improve fertility rates, the government has introduced various marriage benefits and child care assistance.
Meanwhile, the number of deaths in September rose 3.8 percent to 29,362 compared to last year.
According to this, South Korea recorded a natural population decline of 8,772 in this month.
The number of deaths has exceeded the number of newborns since the fourth quarter of 2019.
The report also showed that the number of couples getting married in September increased by 18.8 percent to 15,368 compared to last year.
The number of couples divorcing increased by 0.4 percent to 7,531 compared to last year, the data said.
–IANS
MKS/KR