Number of Births Falls on Year for 52 Consecutive Months
Statistics Korea announced on April 28 that the number of births in February this year is 22,854, down 11.3 percent from a year ago. The number is the lowest February figure ever and the number of births in South Korea decreased year on year for the 51st consecutive month.
In February this year, the number of deaths rose 10.9 percent year on year to 25,419, which is the highest February figure in history.
The natural decrease in population was 2,565 that month. The population naturally decreased for the fourth consecutive month after having decreased by 1,619 in November last year, 5,628 in December and 1,653 in January this year. The four-month continuation occurred for the first time since records began in 1983 although the population naturally decreased in December 2017 and December 2018.
The number of marriages is on the decline, too. Specifically, the number for the first two months of this year is 38,927, down 1.5 percent from a year earlier. The population is predicted to continue to decrease as an increasing number of people are putting off their marriage and pregnancy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.