Number of Births in August 19,000, 'Lowest on Record for Same Month'... Decreasing for 11 Consecutive Months

Statistics Korea 'August Population Trends'
Birth Rate Decline -12.8%
Population Decrease Continues for 46 Months

The number of births in August fell below 20,000. This is the lowest number ever recorded for August. The number of births has been declining for 11 consecutive months, and the population has been decreasing for 46 consecutive months.

According to the "August Population Trends" released by Statistics Korea on the 25th, the number of births was 18,984, a decrease of 12.8% (2,798) compared to the same month last year. This is the first time in 42 years since monthly statistics began in 1981 that the number of births in August has fallen below 20,000.

The birth decline rate for August was the largest in 15 years since 2008 (August, -14.2%). The number of births had been decreasing from December 2015 to August last year, then increased by 13 in September of the same year, but has been declining for 11 consecutive months since October last year.

The crude birth rate, which is the number of births per 1,000 people, was 4.4, down 0.6 from a year earlier. Among the 17 metropolitan cities and provinces, births decreased in all regions except Chungbuk (1.9%). Gwangju (-15.1%), Sejong (-11.2%), and Jeju (-10.6%) had double-digit decline rates.

Considering that birth rates typically decline further toward the end of the year, concerns are growing that this year's total fertility rate (the expected number of children a woman of childbearing age will have in her lifetime) will fall to the 0.6 range. Last year, South Korea's total fertility rate was 0.78, making it the only OECD country with a total fertility rate below 1. A Statistics Korea official said, "Although marriages increased last year and were expected to influence births, it seems that even if people marry, it does not significantly affect childbirth."

The number of deaths in August was 30,540, an increase of 500 (1.7%) compared to a year earlier. By city and province, deaths increased in 12 regions including Busan and Daegu compared to the same month last year, but decreased in 5 regions including Seoul and Gyeonggi. As the number of deaths exceeded the number of births, the population naturally decreased by 11,556 in August. The total population has been declining for 46 consecutive months since November 2019.

The number of marriages in August was 14,610, a decrease of 1,180 (7.0%) compared to a year earlier. Marriages increased in 3 regions including Daegu and Sejong, but decreased in 14 regions including Seoul and Busan. The number of divorces was 8,057, down 169 (2.1%) from a year earlier. Divorces increased in 10 regions including Daegu and Incheon, but decreased in 7 regions including Seoul and Busan.

Meanwhile, the number of movers last month was 450,000, a decrease of 7,000 (1.6%) compared to the same month last year. Among net movers, calculated by subtracting the number of people moving out from those moving in, net inflows were highest in 4 regions including Incheon (2,917), Gyeonggi (1,238), and Chungnam (1,108). Conversely, net outflows were recorded in 13 regions including Seoul (-1,370), Busan (-961), and Gyeongbuk (-661).

As of the third quarter of this year, the number of movers was 1.47 million, an increase of 2.4% (35,000) compared to the same period last year, and the mobility rate rose by 0.3 percentage points to 11.4% during the same period.

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