South Korea's childbirths hit an all-time low in October at 21,000

South Korea's childbirths in October hit a record low. The population naturally declined for 24 consecutive months, as the number of newborn babies decreased and the number of death increased. The cumulative declined population reached 33,000 between January and October this year.

According to the population data compiled by Statistics Korea, the number of newborns was 20,736 in October this year, down 5.2 per cent from a year ago.

This is the lowest tally for any October since 1981, when the population statistics were first complied.

The number of monthly births has been also decreasing for 71 months since December 2015.

The crude birth rate, which refers to the number of births per 1,000 populations, was 4.8%. Sejong (10.2 per cent) has the highest crude birth rate, and Jeolla bukdo (3.9 per cent) has the lowest.

From January to October, 224,216 babies were born, down 3.6 per cent year-on-year.

The annual number of births fell to the 200,000 range for the first time last year, and is expected to remain in the 200,000 range this year.

Kim Soo-young, director of the Statistics Korea bureau of demographic trends, said, "The population of women in their 30s, the age group that mainly gives birth, has been decreasing, and the marriage rate has been also decreasing since 2012. The declining trend has worsened due to COVID-19.