South Korea's birth rate is rising nationwide after years of decline, primarily due to a surge in marriages among residents.
Last year, the Asian country recorded a 3.6% rise in births, the first positive since 2015. This gave local government officials hope for a brighter future. Lawmakers have been rolling out greater parental leave and other benefits to encourage residents to help with the nation's birthrate, which is known as the lowest worldwide.
South Korea's Low Birth Rate
The positive development comes after South Korea experienced a rise in the number of marriages over the last few years. This was primarily because a lot of weddings were postponed amid the coronavirus pandemic. People in the Asian nation generally marry first before starting a family by having a child.
An official from the South Korean government's statistics agency, Park Hyun-Jung, said in a briefing that the development marks a "change in social value, with more positive attitudes toward marriage and having children," according to the New York Times.
Data showed that last year, South Korea had roughly 238,300 babies born, an increase of 8,300 from the previous year. Seulki Choi, a professor of demographics and sociology at the KDI School of Public Policy and Management in Sejong City, said the development is "welcome news."
He noted that the country's birthrate had been slipping so significantly that it became difficult to imagine exactly how far down it would go. However, population experts believe that reversing South Korea's declining population altogether will be much more difficult.
Fortune reported that the country's elderly far outnumber the youth. The number of deaths in 2024 was 358,400, which rose by 5,800 compared to the prior year. Fortune noted that the Asian nation also has one of the longest life expectancies in the world.
Reasons for the Situation
Experts cited several reasons for South Korea's extremely low birth rate, including high child-rearing costs and expensive property prices. Additionally, the nation has a competitive society, which makes securing well-paying jobs harder.
The small uptick in the birth rate has also been well-received by some residents in South Korea. These include 41-year-old housewife Park Ye-Jin. The mother has a child who recently finished elementary school but only has 99 other students.
Park said that this number would have only been one-fifth of the total number of students who graduated when she was the same age. She said, "The graduation ceremony felt quite empty, and I felt sad," as per the Straits Times.
