Births in September soar 10% as fertility rate inches up

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Births in September soar 10% as fertility rate inches up

Published: 27 Nov. 2024, 16:43

Nurses tend to newborn babies at a hospital in Incheon on July 24. [NEWS1]

The number of babies born in Korea increased by the largest margin in almost 14 years in September, data showed Wednesday, as the country is struggling to address the grim demographic challenges posed by an ultralow birthrate and rapid aging.

A total of 20,590 babies were born in September, up 10.1 percent, or 1,884 newborns, from a year earlier, according to data compiled by Statistics Korea.

It marked the largest on-year increase since January 2011, when the number of childbirths grew by 10.8 percent.

"The increase is attributed to more couples holding weddings from the second half of 2022 through the first half of 2023 after delaying their marriages during the earlier stages of the Covid-19 pandemic," said Im Young-il, an agency official, in a press briefing.

For the third quarter of this year, a total of 61,288 babies were born, up 8 percent from the same period last year, the agency said. The reading also marks the largest quarterly increase since the third quarter of 2012.

The total fertility rate, which refers to the average number of expected births per woman in her lifetime, came to 0.76 in the third quarter. For the January-September period, the rate came to 0.74.

The nine-month figure is higher than the 0.72 recorded for the whole year of 2023, which marked the lowest level since 1970.

"There is a high possibility that the total fertility rate for the whole of 2024 may hover above 0.72 and even reach around 0.74 if the current trend continues throughout the fourth quarter," Im said. "However, it is too early to say that the figure is a rebound as it is still too low compared to other countries."

The rate is far below the 2.1 births per woman needed to maintain a stable population without immigration.

Korea has been grappling with a persistent decline in its birthrate, as an increasing number of young people are choosing to delay or avoid marriage and parenthood. To encourage marriage and improve the fertility rate, the government has rolled out various marriage benefits and support for child care.

The number of deaths, meanwhile, increased 3.8 percent on year to 29,362 in September, resulting in a natural population decrease of 8,772 in the 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 soared 18.8 percent from a year ago to 15,368 in September, marking the highest on-year increase in history.

The number of couples getting divorced inched up 0.4 percent on-year to 7,531, the data added.

Yonhap