Last Year, Population Decreased by 57,300... Deaths Exceed Births for 2 Consecutive Years

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Kim Hyewon] Last year, South Korea's population experienced a natural decrease for the second consecutive year. The natural decrease reached a record high with 57,300 people declining in just one year.

According to the '2021 Birth and Death Statistics (Provisional)' released by Statistics Korea on the 23rd, South Korea's population naturally decreased by 57,300 last year. This continued the natural decrease trend for the second year following 2020, when the number of deaths exceeded the number of births for the first time in history.

Natural population increase (births minus deaths) was over 200,000 until 2010, but fell below 100,000 in 2017 (72,000), then sharply declined to 28,000 in 2018 and 8,000 in 2019, before recording the first 'dead cross' in 2020.

The number of births last year was 260,500, a 4.3% (11,800) decrease compared to the previous year. This is the lowest record since statistics began in 1970. The number of births, which had remained in the 400,000 range for 15 years from 2002 to 2016, dropped to the 300,000 range in 2017 and entered the 200,000 range from 2020. The crude birth rate, which indicates the number of births per 1,000 people, hit a record low of 5.1.

On the other hand, the number of deaths reached 317,800, the highest since statistics began in 1970. This is a 4.2% (12,800) increase from the previous year. The increase in deaths was mainly among the elderly aged 60 and over, with the highest number in both men and women in their 80s. Deaths increased significantly in the order of those aged 90 and above (8.4%), 60s (8.2%), and 80s (6.5%). The crude death rate, the number of deaths per 1,000 people, was 6.2, continuing an upward trend since 2010.

The total fertility rate, which is the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime, fell to 0.81, the lowest since statistics began. Thus, the total fertility rate has remained below 1 for four consecutive years: 0.98 in 2018, 0.92 in 2019, and 0.84 in 2020. This means that women do not have even one child during their reproductive years. Among the 37 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), South Korea is the only country with a total fertility rate below 1.

No Hyungjun, head of the Population Trends Division at Statistics Korea, said in a briefing, "The decrease of 89,800 women in their 30s, the main childbearing age group, and the continuous decline in the number of marriages over the past 10 years appear to have cumulatively affected the decrease in the number of births."

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