January Births and Marriages Hit Record Lows... Only 26,818 Births Recorded

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] The number of births in South Korea in January this year recorded the lowest ever for the month. The number of marriages also hit the lowest since records began for January.

According to the 'January Population Trends' released by Statistics Korea on the 25th, the number of births in January this year was 26,818, a sharp decrease of 3,522 (-11.6%) compared to the same month last year. This is the lowest number recorded for January since monthly statistics began in 1981.

Because births fluctuate depending on seasonality and monthly preferences, comparisons are made with the same month of the previous year rather than the previous month. Parents tend to prefer births later in the year over early-year births due to concerns that babies born at the end of the year may develop relatively slower among peers of the same age. The decline in January births was the largest in 16 months since September last year, when the year-on-year decrease was 13.4%.

Looking at the data by city and province, all regions nationwide showed a downward trend. Seoul recorded 4,734 births, down 10% from the same period last year, and Busan had 1,588 births, down 4.2%. The region with the largest decrease was Incheon (1,542 births), which was 21% less than last year.

The number of marriages in the same month was 19,823. This was a decrease of 1,503 (-7.0%) compared to the same month last year and, like the number of births, the lowest since monthly statistics began in 1981. The number of deaths was 28,471, an increase of 1,106 (4.0%) compared to the same month last year. The crude death rate, which indicates the number of deaths per 1,000 people, was 6.5%.

The number of divorces was 8,832, down 859 (-8.9%) compared to the same month last year. The crude divorce rate was 2.0%. The regions with the highest crude divorce rates nationwide were Jeju (2.5%), Chungnam (2.5%), Incheon (2.4%), and Ulsan (2.4%), while the lowest was Gwangju (1.5%). Seoul's rate was 1.7%.

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