Korean newborns hit record low in February, data show

The number of newborns in Korea hit a new low in February with an on-year decrease of 3.3 percent. The crude birthrate fell to 4.8.

A pedestrian walks past a barrier at a construction site decorated with a drawing of a family on Wednesday. [NEWS1]

The number of newborns in Korea sunk to a new low for the month of February. Marriage saw an on-year decline, while divorces increased.

The country saw 19,362 births in February, a 3.3 percent decrease from the same period of last year, according to data Statistics Korea released Wednesday.

As the Jan.-March period tends to see the highest number of newborns in the country, this year marked the first time the figure has ever dropped below the 20,000 mark in the first quarter. The crude birthrate — the average number of births per 1,000 population — came in at 4.8 children, down 0.3 from a year prior.

The lowest monthly figure ever was 16,253 in December of last year.

The number of newborns saw an on-year decline for the 16th consecutive month. Just 21,442 births were recorded in January, an on-year decrease of 7.7 percent.

At the current pace, the quarterly fertility rate — the average number of children a woman is expected to give birth to — for the Jan.-March period may dip below the 0.7 mark.

Korea’s fertility rate hit its lowest ever in the Oct.-Dec. period of last year at 0.65 children per woman, falling to the 0.6 level for the first time.

The figure steadily declined through 2023, from 0.82 in the first quarter to 0.71 in the second and the third. The annual fertility rate came in at 0.72, down by 0.06 from a year before.

Quarterly data will be released next month.

Five regions, including Seoul and Incheon, saw an increase in the number of newborns in February, while 12 regions, such as Busan and Daegu, experienced a decline.

As the number of deaths nationwide spiked 9.6 percent to 29,977, Korea’s population shrank by a net of 10,614. The number of deaths inched down by 0.5 percent to 32,490 in January, marking 52 straight months of net population decline.

“The growing impact of the aging population resulted in a sudden surge in the number of deaths,” said Lim Yeong-il, director of the demographic division at Statistics Korea. Lim also cited the addition of a leap year day in February for the steep increase this year.

The population logged a net decrease in every region except Sejong, which saw a 3.8 percent increase. Seoul lost 1.5 percent of its population.

Meanwhile, the number of marriages declined 5 percent on year to 16,949 in February, taking a downturn after a 11.6 percent jump in January. The number of divorces increased 1.8 percent to 7,354.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]