S. Korea's births grow for 22 straight months

South Korea's births grew for 22 straight months, breaking away from the longstanding trajectory of low birth rate, statistical ministry data showed Wednesday.

The number of newborn babies jumped 18.0 percent from a year earlier to 24,521 in April, continuing to rise since July 2024, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics.

It marked the fastest increase for April since relevant data began to be compiled in 1981.

The total fertility rate, or the number of children a woman is expected to bear during life, added 0.13 to 0.93 in the cited month, but it stayed far below the replacement rate of 2.1 births per woman to maintain a stable population.

The number of marriages expanded 9.0 percent to 20,622 in April on a yearly basis, while the number of divorces gained 7.3 percent to 7,829.

The number of deaths decreased 1.3 percent to 28,405 in April compared to the same month of last year.

Affected by the still high deaths and low births, the natural population decline stood at 3,884 in the cited month.

xinhua