December Births Last Year Hit 'All-Time Low'... Population Decreased by 15,000 in One Month

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Son Seon-hee] In December last year, the number of births in South Korea reached an all-time low. In just one month, the population of the Republic of Korea decreased by nearly 15,000 people. This is the result of a continuous decline in births and an increase in deaths.

According to the "December 2021 Population Trends" released by Statistics Korea on the 23rd, the number of births in December last year was 17,084, a 13% decrease compared to the same month the previous year. This is the first time the monthly number of births has fallen to the 17,000 range.

The crude birth rate, which indicates the number of births per 1,000 people, was 3.9, down 0.6 from 4.5 in the same month of the previous year.

On the other hand, the number of deaths increased by 17.7% during the same period, reaching 31,634. As a result, the natural increase (births minus deaths) for December was minus 14,550.

Looking at the data by city and province, the number of births decreased in all regions compared to the same month a year ago. The region with the highest crude birth rate was Sejong (7.2), while Busan had the lowest (3.1).

The total number of births in the fourth quarter of last year, including December, was 57,618, a decrease of 3,961 (-6.4%) compared to the same period the previous year. This is also the lowest quarterly figure on record.

The number of deaths in the fourth quarter of last year was 87,772, an increase of 8,815 (11.2%) compared to the same period the previous year.

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