Number of Births in February Hits Record Low at 19,900... Population Declines for 40 Consecutive Months

The number of births in February set a new record low for the month. Although the number of deaths decreased, natural population decline continued for the 40th consecutive month.

According to population trends announced by Statistics Korea on the 26th, the number of births in February this year was 19,939, a decrease of 766 (-3.7%) compared to one year ago. This is the lowest number recorded for February since monthly statistics began in 1981. The previous record low was in February last year (20,705). The monthly number of births has been declining year-on-year for 87 consecutive months since December 2015. The monthly low was recorded in December last year at 16,803.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

By region, except for five metropolitan cities including Daegu and Incheon, the number of births decreased in 12 metropolitan cities including Seoul and Busan compared to one year ago. The crude birth rate, which indicates the number of births per 1,000 people, was 5.1. Sejong had the highest crude birth rate at 9.4, while Jeonbuk had the lowest at 4.0.

On the other hand, the number of deaths in February was 27,390, a decrease of 1,905 (-6.5%) compared to the same month last year. This is interpreted as a decrease in deaths due to the reduced impact of COVID-19. By region, the number of deaths decreased in 15 metropolitan cities nationwide except for Gangwon and Jeonbuk.

With the number of deaths exceeding the number of births, the population naturally decreased by 7,452. Due to low birth rates and aging, the population has been naturally declining for 40 consecutive months since November 2019. By region, natural decrease occurred in 14 metropolitan cities except for Daejeon and Sejong.

The number of marriages in February was 17,846, an increase of 2,541 (16.6%) compared to one year ago. This was influenced by the base effect of a sharp decrease in marriage registrations during the COVID-19 period. The number of marriages increased in all metropolitan cities except Sejong compared to the same month last year. During the same period, the number of divorces also increased by 92 (1.3%) to 7,228 compared to one year ago.

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