South Korea’s birth rate falls to record low in 2023, govt data shows

The South Korean government said on Wednesday (Feb 28) that the birth rate in the nation fell to a record low, even after investing millions and billions of dollars into efforts to encourage women to have more children.

The South Korean government asks families to maintain population stability as the country has one of the world’s longest life expectancies and the lowest birth rates.

The report comes amid rising trends of people being more concerned about their career advancement and avoiding the financial burden of raising children. The families are either delaying childbirth or not having babies at all.

Statistics Korea data showed that the average number of expected babies for a South Korean woman during her reproductive life fell to a record low of 0.72 from 0.78 in 2022.

The current status is far below the rate of 2.1 per woman, which is needed for a steady population. It was even lower than the rate of 1.24 in 2015 when concerns about issues such as the cost of housing and education were lower.

Experts in the country have estimated that at the current rate, the population of 51 million will nearly halve by the year 2100.