The First 20,000 Mark for February Births Broken... 52 Consecutive Months of Natural Population Decline

Statistics Korea Population Trends Announcement

The number of births in February last month failed to exceed 20,000, breaking the all-time lowest record once again. This is the first year that the number of births in February has been less than 20,000. Since the number of births tends to decrease toward the end of the year, there is a high possibility that the annual number of births this year will record the lowest ever. The previous annual low was 229,970 in the previous year.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the 'February 2024 Population Trends' announced by Statistics Korea on the 24th, the number of births last February was 19,362, a decrease of 658 (3.3%) compared to the same period last year. The crude birth rate, which refers to the number of births per 1,000 people, was 4.8, down from 5 in the previous month and 5.1 in the same month last year.

By region, the number of births increased in five metropolitan cities including Seoul and Incheon, but decreased in 12 other metropolitan cities including Busan and Daegu. Seoul saw a rebound after 16 months, and Incheon after 12 months.

Conversely, the number of deaths was the highest ever recorded. At 29,977, it increased by 2,619 (9.6%) compared to the same month last year. This is the largest figure for February each year. By region, the number of deaths increased in all areas except Jeonbuk compared to the same month last year.

The natural population decrease, calculated by subtracting the number of births from the number of deaths, was 10,614. The natural decrease slightly exceeded 10,000, marking the highest ever for February as well. Since the number of deaths has exceeded the number of births, the domestic population has been declining for 52 consecutive months since November 2019.

The number of marriages was 16,949, a decrease of 896 (5.0%) compared to the same month last year, but the number of divorces was 7,354, an increase of 128 (1.8%). Although this year’s Lunar New Year holiday may have had an impact, the dominant analysis is that the fundamental cause of the decline in marriages is the trend toward non-marriage and late marriage.