The Only OECD Member with a TFR of below 1
Statistics Korea announced on Feb. 23 that South Korea’s total fertility rate (TFR) fell from 0.84 to 0.81 last year, after having fallen from 0.92 to 0.84 in 2020.
In 2019, the average TFR of the 38 members of the OECD was 1.61. At present, South Korea is the only OECD member with a TFR of less than 1.
South Korea’s TFR fell below 2 for the first time and reached 1.74 in 1984. It fell again to 1.1 to 1.3 in the 2000s and reached 0.98 in 2018 and 0.92 in 2019. Statistics Korea is estimating the 2022 and 2023 figures at 0.73 and 0.68, respectively.
Last year, the number of newborns in the country was 260,500, the lowest since records began in 1970. For reference, the 2020 figure is 272,300 and the 2001 figure is 560,000. In 2021, the average age of giving birth rose 0.2 to 33.4 whereas the 2019 OECD average is 28.3.