S. Korea Posts Rising Births for 12th Straight Month
(MENAFN) South Korea recorded a year-on-year increase in births for the twelfth consecutive month in June, driven in part by a rise in marriages, according to data released Wednesday by Statistics Korea.
The number of babies born in June climbed 9.4% from the same month last year, totaling 19,953. The nation has seen a continuous rise in births since July 2023, marking a rare positive streak in its ongoing demographic crisis.
Despite the uptick, the total fertility rate—the average number of children a woman is expected to have over her lifetime—edged up by just 0.06, reaching 0.76 in June. The figure remains dramatically below the 2.1 threshold needed to sustain the population without immigration.
Marriage rates also grew, with 18,487 couples tying the knot in June, a 9.1% increase from a year earlier. In contrast, divorces declined 6.0% to 6,777 over the same period.
Still, concerns persist as many in the younger generation continue to delay or opt out of parenthood due to economic pressures, including soaring housing costs and stubbornly high unemployment.
Experts caution that the continued slump in fertility rates is hastening the onset of a demographic cliff—a steep decline in household formation that may lead to a wider downturn in consumer spending and overall economic momentum.
Meanwhile, the number of deaths in June rose 1.5% to 27,270, widening the natural population decline to 7,317—the result of more deaths than births during the month.
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