18,000 Births in May... Population Decline Continues for 43 Months

Statistics Korea May 2023 Population Trends Announcement

The number of births in May last month remained in the 18,000 range, marking the lowest ever for the same month. The natural population decrease, where the number of deaths exceeds the number of births in a month, continued for the 43rd consecutive month.

According to the 'May 2023 Population Trends' released by Statistics Korea on the 26th, the number of births in May was 18,988, a decrease of 1,069 (5.3%) compared to a year earlier. This is the lowest number of births ever recorded for May since monthly statistics began in 1981. It is also the first time the number of births in May has fallen below 20,000.

The number of births has been declining year-on-year for 7 years and 6 months since December 2015. The crude birth rate, which is the number of births per 1,000 people, was 4.4, down 0.2 from a year earlier. This is also the lowest ever for the same month.

The number of deaths recorded was 28,958, an increase of 50 (0.2%) from a year earlier, the highest ever for May. Due to the aging trend, the number of deaths is on the rise. With deaths exceeding births, the population naturally decreased by 9,970. This decline has continued for 43 months since November 2019. Except for Sejong (96 people), all other cities and provinces experienced a natural population decrease.

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