South Koreans are finally getting around to making more babies, which is of great news to their government. South's Korea's birth rate—for years the lowest of any country in the world—is now set to climb for the first time in almost a decade. The number of newborns in the country from January to November 2024 rose 3% from a year earlier to 220,094, according to data shared Wednesday, per Reuters. That follows a 7.7% decline in the number of newborns in 2023. The annual fertility rate, or the number of children born per woman of reproductive age, was just 0.72 that year, the lowest of any country. A 2.1 threshold is needed to maintain the population.
The increase in birth rate is attributed to "a rebound in marriages that were delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic," per Reuters. The number of marriages climbed 13.5% to 199,903 from January to November for the first increase in 12 years—and, if the trend continued through December, the biggest annual increase since 1980. Though South Korea has instituted various measures meant to increase births, marriage is key as it's often seen as a prerequisite to having children. Some 63% of respondents opposed births outside of marriage in a government survey last year.
There's a similar feeling in China, where more marriages led births to increase 5.8% to 9.54 million in 2024, per Reuters. Still, births were outpaced by the number of deaths, and since China allows very little immigration, the country's population fell for a third straight year. At the end of 2024, it stood at 1.408 billion, a decline of 1.39 million from 2023, per NPR. South Korea's annual data is due out on Feb. 26. (More South Korea stories.)
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