South Korea sees largest increase in births in 18 years
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The uptick in births was driven largely by women in their 30s.
ST PHOTO: CHANG MAY CHOON
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SEOUL – The number of babies born between January and September surpassed 190,000, marking the largest year-on-year increase in 18 years, government data showed on Nov 26.
According to the Ministry of Data and Statistics, 190,140 babies were born in the first nine months of the year, up 12,488 from the same period in 2024.
The last time births increased by a larger margin was in 2007, when the figure rose by 31,258 during the same period.
With the recent rise in marriage and fertility rates, officials said the total number of births in 2025 is likely to exceed the 238,317 in 2024.
The uptick in births was driven largely by women in their 30s.
In the third quarter, the age-specific fertility rate for women aged 25 to 29 declined by 0.1, while the rate increased by 2.4 for women aged 30 to 34 and by 5.3 for those aged 35 to 39. The data indicates an increase of 5.3 births per 1,000 women in that age group.
Marriages, a key indicator of future birth trends, have also been rising for 18 consecutive months since April 2024. A total of 176,178 marriages were recorded in the first three quarters, up 8.9 per cent, or 14,417, from a year earlier. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
