No. of births and marriages jump in S. Korea in Q2 2024
2분기 출생아수 2015년 4분기 이후 처음으로 증가 혼인건수도 역대 최대 증가율 보여
South Korea’s birth rate bucked recent trends growing for the first time in nearly nine years, with the number of marriages also seeing record growths.
Our Moon Hye-ryeon has the details.
Some positive news regarding the country’s population crisis as the number of marriages and births surged in the second quarter of 2024.
Data from Statistics Korea on Tuesday showed that the total number of births between April and June this year came to just under 57-thousand – an increase of one-point-two percent compared to the same period last year.
It’s the first time since the fourth quarter of 2015 that the number of births in South Korea has grown year-on-year by quarter.
The number of births in June recorded an all-time low for the month of June, but the number of births in April and May saw a rise – which is what led to the overall increase for the second quarter.
There were also more marriages in the same period this year, with just under 56-thousand between April and June which is an increase of more than 17 percent compared to the second quarter of 2023.
This is the largest year-on-year jump in the number of marriages for any quarter.
A spokesperson from Statistics Korea attributed the surge in the number of births and marriages to not only a backlog caused by COVID-19 restrictions which meant weddings were delayed, but also to various efforts from the Yoon administration to tackle the population crisis with benefits for married couples.
But it could be too soon to celebrate just yet.
Last year, the total fertility rate – which is defined as the average number of children that are born to a woman in her lifetime – hit a record low of point-7-2.
In the second quarter of 2024, the total fertility rate came to point-7-1, which is the same as in the second quarter of 2023.
When comparing the total number of births from January to June this year and last year, the number for this year fell by more than three thousand.
The population also saw a natural decline of 8-thousand-700 in June – bigger than the figure for June 2023.
Natural decline is calculated by subtracting the number of deaths from the number of births, and the country has seen a natural decline in the population since November 2019.
Moon Hye-ryeon, Arirang News.
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2024-08-28, 12:00 (KST)