South Korean births grow at highest rate in 14 years, reversing trend

SEOUL, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- South Korea's birth rate showed its largest monthly gain in nearly 14 years, its statistics agency said Wednesday, offering a rare positive sign amid longstanding demographic concerns over a shrinking and rapidly aging population.

Some 20,590 babies were born in September, according to data from Statistics Korea, up 1,884 newborns -- or 10.1% -- from the same period last year. The one-year increase was the largest since January 2011.

September marked the third straight month in which more than 20,000 babies were born, with 20,601 in July and 20,098 in August. Total births in the third quarter were up 8% from the same period last year, the agency said, marking the largest quarterly increase since the third quarter of 2012.

Officials have pointed to a jump in marriages after the COVID-19 pandemic as the key driver in the recent birth rate boost.

The country may see its first annual rise in overall fertility rate since 2015, according to a projection by South Korea's Presidential Committee on Aging Society and Population Policy.

"Recently, the number of marriages has increased for five consecutive months and the number of births has increased for two consecutive months," Joo Hyung-hwan, vice chairman of the committee, said in a speech at the Symposium on Aging and Low Birthrate in Seoul on Tuesday.

"If this trend continues, the total fertility rate is expected to rebound to around 0.74 this year," Joo said.

South Korea finished 2023 at a record-low rate of 0.72 -- meaning that for every 100 women, just 72 babies are expected to be born over their lifetimes.

That mark was by far the lowest in the world, less than half the average rate of the 38 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

A fertility rate of 2.1 is considered the level needed to keep a population from declining.

A number of factors, including high housing and education costs and gender inequality in the workplace, have made young people in South Korea reluctant to start families.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has called the low birth rate a "national emergency" and announced plans in May to establish a new ministry to address it.

The government has tried various incentives to help entice families to have children, including a cash allowance for newborns that was raised to roughly $750 per month at the start of the year.

South Korea's presidential committee on population policy unveiled additional steps last month to enhance work-life balance, including increased parental leave and tax incentives for small businesses to offer family-friendly work cultures.

Despite the uptick in births, however, the specter of a demographic crisis continues to loom.

Statistics Korea has projected that the country's population will decline from nearly 52 million in 2024 to 36 million in 2072. At the same time, the proportion of the elderly population in South Korea will rise from less than 20% in 2024 to nearly half in 2072.