Key facts
- South Korea's birth rate in April saw an 18% increase compared to the previous year.
- The total number of births in April reached 24,521, the highest for that month in seven years.
- For the January-April period, births totaled 99,534, also a seven-year high.
- The total fertility rate increased to 0.93 in April.
- Marriages rose 9% in April, while divorces increased by 7.3%.
SEOUL, June 24 (Yonhap) -- The number of babies born in South Korea surged 18 percent in April from a year earlier, reaching the highest level in seven years, according to government data released Wednesday.
A total of 24,521 babies were born in April, an increase from 20,787 in the same month last year. This figure marks the highest for any April since 2019, when 26,104 births were recorded.
For the January-April period, the total number of births reached 99,534, also the highest in seven years, representing a significant 15.5 percent rise from the previous year. The growth rate for both April and the cumulative period was a record high.
The country's total fertility rate, which measures the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime, rose by 0.13 from a year earlier to 0.93 in April. The number of newborns has been on an upward trend since July 2024.
Experts attribute this recent growth to an increase in marriages and a more positive perception of childbirth. The number of marriages in April increased by 9 percent year-over-year to 20,622, the highest figure since April 2016. However, the number of divorces also rose by 7.3 percent to 7,829.
Meanwhile, the number of deaths decreased by 1.3 percent from a year earlier to 28,405, resulting in a natural population decline of 3,884 for April. The fertility rate remains well below the 2.1 births per woman needed to maintain a stable population without immigration.