S. Korea’s fertility rate remained at the bottom in developed category for 2nd year

South Korea held the lowest birth rate in the developed category for the second consecutive year, with fertility rate at fresh low of 0.92 in 2019.

According to data released by Statistics Korea, the country’s total fertility rate –the average number of children a woman is expected to have during her lifetime– slipped to a new low of 0.92 in 2019, down from 0.98 a year ago. It is not only the lowest point since the agency began compiling related data in 1970 but the bottom among 37 Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries whose average was at 1.63.

Korea’s total fertility rate has remained below 1 since 0.98 in 2018, becoming the only OECD country to be in zero territory.

Last year, 302,700 babies were born, down 7.4 percent from a year ago and the lowest tally since 1970.

A half a century ago, more than 1 million babies were born in Korea before falling to 400,000 in 2002 and 300,000 in 2017. Korea is now about to near 200,000 range.

The crude birthrate – the number of births per 1,000 people – also fell 7.3 percent from a year ago to 5.9 in 2019. The tally reached the highest at 86.2 in the 30-34 age group, followed by 45.0 in the 35-39 age group, 35.7 in the 24-29 age group, 7.1 in the 20-24 age group, and 7.0 in the 40-44 age group.

The number of births per 1,000 women in the 30-34 age group slipped 5.7 percent last year from a year ago and in the 20-24 age group 12.9 percent. The crude birthrate fell in all age groups except for 40-44 age group.

The average age in which a woman gives birth was 33 last year, up 0.2 years from a year ago. Women aged 35 and over accounted for 33.4 percent of the total, up 1.6 percentage points from a year ago.

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