"Do You Have to Have a Baby Just Because You're Getting Married?"... Birth Rate Hits All-Time Low

Total Fertility Rate 0.92... Decreased by 0.06 from Previous Year
Number of Births 303,100... Down 7.3% YoY
Continued Maternal Aging... Average Maternal Age 33.0 Years
33.3% of Mothers Aged 35 and Over... Down 1.5%P YoY
Natural Population Increase 8,000... Lowest Since Statistics Began

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] As more women choose not to have children even after marriage, the number of births has once again hit a record low.

According to the "2019 Birth and Death Statistics Preliminary Results" released by Statistics Korea on the 26th, the number of births last year was 303,100, a decrease of 23,700 (-7.3%) compared to the previous year.

This is the lowest number since related statistics began in 1970 and is about half the number recorded 30 years ago (633,092 in 1988).

The number of births in South Korea remained in the 400,000 range for nearly 15 years from 2002 to 2016, but dropped to the 300,000 range for the first time in 2017 and has been declining sharply for three consecutive years since then.

Accordingly, the total fertility rate last year was 0.92, lower than the previous year's record low of 0.97. The total fertility rate fell below 1.0 starting last year.

The total fertility rate, which shocked the nation by dropping to 1.08 in 2005, hovered around 1.1 to 1.2 for a while due to various government low birthrate policies, but plunged to 1.05 in 2017 as the so-called "Sampo (giving up dating, marriage, and childbirth) generation" phenomenon intensified, and then fell below 1.0 in 2018.

The aging of mothers is also continuing. The average age of mothers at childbirth last year was 33.0 years, an increase of 0.2 years compared to the previous year. This is 2 years higher than 31.0 years in 2009, ten years ago.

The proportion of relatively older mothers aged 35 and over among all mothers was 33.3%, up 1.5 percentage points from the previous year.

By age group, the birth rate of mothers in their early 30s was the highest at 86.3, followed by 45.0 for mothers in their late 30s, and 35.7 for mothers in their late 20s. In particular, birth rates for mothers in their late 20s and early 30s decreased significantly. The birth rate for mothers in their late 20s dropped by 5.3 (-13.0%), and for those in their early 30s by 5.1 (-6.0%).

For these reasons, the "natural population increase," which is the number of births minus the number of deaths, showed the lowest figure since statistics began in 1970. The natural population increase last year was 8,000, a decrease of 20,000 (-71.7%) compared to the previous year.

Meanwhile, the number of deaths last year was 255,100, a decrease of 3,700 (-1.2%) compared to the previous year. This is the first decrease in the number of deaths and death rate since 2013, which is interpreted as a base effect following the sharp increase in deaths and death rate in 2018.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.