SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea’s birth rate rose for the first time in nine years in 2024, backed by an increase in marriage, preliminary data showed on Wednesday with signs that the country’s demographic crisis may have turned the corner.
According to the Korean Statistics Bureau, the country’s birth rate, the average number of babies expected to be present on average in women’s reproductive life, was 0.75 in 2024.
In 2023, the birth rate fell to 0.72, the lowest in the world for the eighth consecutive year, down from 1.24 in 2015, raising concerns about such a rapid pace of economic shock to society.
Since 2018, South Korea has been the only member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) with a rate of less than 1.
South Korea has implemented various measures to encourage young people to marry and have children. Going forward, President Yoon Soo-Yeol has declared plans to create a new ministry dedicated to addressing the “national demographic crisis” and low birth rates.
“There has been a change in social values with a more positive view of marriage and childbirth,” said Park Hyun-joon, an official at the Korean Statistics Bureau, briefing, citing the impact of the rise in people in their early 30s and the effects of the delayed pandemic.
“It’s difficult to measure how much each factor contributed to an increase in new births, but they themselves influenced each other,” Park said.
Marriage, a key indicator of new births, rose 14.9% in 2024. This was the biggest surge since data was released in 1970. The engagement occurred in 2023 for the first time in 11 years, driving a 1.0% post-pandemic increase.
In Asian countries there is a high correlation between marriage and birth, with a time delay of 1-2 years.
Nationwide, the birth rate last year was 0.58, the lowest in the capital, Seoul.
The latest data shows that 120,000 more people died last year than those born last year, showing that the population has naturally shrinking for the fifth consecutive year. The managed city of Sejong was the only major center where population growth occurred.
South Korea’s population, which peaked at 51.83 million in 2020, is expected to shrink to 3,622 million by 2072, according to the latest forecasts from the Statistics Agency.
