S. Korea's births in 2020 lowest on record: Statistics Korea

작년 출생아 사상 첫 20만명대…합계출산율 0.84명, OECD 꼴찌

South Korea continues to see its population decline.
Last year, with the number of births and the total fertility rate both fell to all-time lows.
That shrinking of the population pre-dates the pandemic, but social distancing is said to have exacerbated it.
Also, data show far fewer people were moving house this summer, and that's related to the country's sky-high home prices... and lack of inventory.
Kim Sung-min reports.
Last year, only 272-thousand babies were born in South Korea falling below 300,000 for the first time since 1981 when data was first complied.
The country's total fertility rate -- the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime also hit a fresh low in 2020 at point-84.
That was the lowest among OECD states.
The births in June particular also came to the lowest for the month of June.
Dropping for 67 straight months there were just 21-thousand-526 births in the month of June.
Meanwhile, deaths increased causing a decline in population for the 20th consecutive month.

"The reason lies in the declining number of women in their 30s an age group which normally has the highest birth rate and the declining number of marriages. Also, the age of marriage is getting higher which means more people are having their first child later dragging down births in general.

And COVID-19 is further accelerating the declining marriage rate.
With social distancing rules and a ban on gatherings more people are delaying getting married.
The number of marriages during the first half of this year dropped to its lowest point ever at some 96-thousand down almost 12 percent on-year.
Meanwhile, population mobility in July fell for the 7th month in a row.

"The reason could be the downturn in the housing market. The number of apartments scheduled for moving-in during June and July dropped 39 percent from the same period last year,... and housing transactions during May and June were down 16 percent on-year."

Seoul's population fell more than any other region.
The number of people living in the city dropped by some 8-thousand-400 in July, due in part to the sky-high house prices.
In July, the average price of apartments in Seoul reached over 940-thousand U.S. dollars for the first time.
Kim Sung-min, Arirang News

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2021-08-25 17:00 (KST)


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2021-08-25 17:00 (KST)

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