May Births Barely Reach '20,000', Lowest Ever for Same Month... South Korea's Population Declines for 31 Consecutive Months

May Population Trends

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Son Seon-hee] The number of births in May barely stayed above 20,000, setting a new record low for the month. With the birth rate worsening, South Korea's population has been naturally declining for 31 consecutive months.

According to the "May Population Trends" released by Statistics Korea on the 27th, the number of births nationwide in May was 20,007, down 8.8% compared to the same month last year. This is the lowest figure for May since monthly statistics began in 1981. The monthly number of births has been decreasing for 78 consecutive months (6 years and 6 months) compared to the same month of the previous year, starting from December 2015.

The crude birth rate, which indicates the number of births per 1,000 people, also dropped from 5.0 in May last year to 4.6 this year, a decrease of 0.4. By region, the number of births decreased in all provinces and cities except Gangwon-do.

The number of deaths in the same month was 28,859, an increase of 12.8% compared to the same month last year. The number of deaths has shown a notably high double-digit growth rate since February this year. A Statistics Korea official explained, "In addition to the increasing number of deaths due to aging, the resurgence of COVID-19 in March and April, and again in May, appears to have had a direct and indirect impact."

As the number of births continues to decline and deaths increase, South Korea's total population has been naturally decreasing since 2019. The natural population change (births minus deaths) in May was -8,852. This marks 31 consecutive months of decline since November 2019.

The region with the highest population decline rate was Jeonnam (-6.2%), followed by Jeonbuk (-5.6%), Gyeongbuk (-5.5%), and Gangwon (-4.8%). In contrast, Sejong City showed a natural population increase rate of 4.5%, making it the only city or province nationwide with population growth.

The number of marriages in May was 17,041, up 5.5% compared to the same month last year, while the number of divorces was 8,372, down 0.9%.

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