South Korea sees births rise amid population decline
The number of babies born in South Korea increased for the 16th consecutive month as of October, though the pace of growth slowed to its lowest level since the start of the year, government data showed Wednesday.
A total of 21,958 babies were born in October, up 2.5 percent from the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics. While this marked the 16th straight month of growth since July 2024, it was also the slowest year-on-year increase of 2025, News.Az reports, citing Yonhap.
Cumulative childbirths through October reached 212,998, up 6.5 percent year-on-year—the fastest growth for the period since 1991. Despite this, the total number of babies born over the 10-month period was the third lowest after 2024 and 2023.
The country’s total fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime, rose slightly by 0.02 to 0.81. By age group, women aged 30 to 34 had the highest birthrate.
Marriage numbers in October totaled 19,586, up 0.2 percent year-on-year. From January to October, 195,764 marriages were registered, marking the highest total in seven years. The ministry expects the annual marriage count to increase for the third consecutive year if the trend continues.
The number of divorces in October was 7,478, up 2.4 percent year-on-year. Meanwhile, 29,739 deaths were recorded, down 0.3 percent from a year earlier.
Despite the increase in births, South Korea’s population fell by 7,781 in October as deaths outnumbered births. The overall population has been declining since November 2019, according to the data.
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