The number of marriages – considered a reliable indicator of expected births in a country where few children are born out of wedlock – jumped 14.9% last year, the biggest rise since data was first released in 1970.
Preliminary data released by the government body Statistics Korea on Wednesday showed that the number of babies born per 1,000 people in 2024 stood at 4.7, the first rise since 2014.
South Korea’s birthrate rose last year for the first time in nine years, as a surge in marriages raised hopes that the country may be lifting itself out of its demographic crisis.
South Korea’s overall population is in decline, however, with deaths outstripping births by 120,000 last year – the fifth consecutive year of natural shrinkage.
The rise in the birthrate has come from a very low base and remains far below the 2.1 births per woman needed to stabilise the population without large-scale immigration.
