S.Korea's fertility rate hits record low in 2022
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E-mail Xinhua, February 22, 2023
SEOUL, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's fertility rate hit a record low last year as the younger generation refrained from getting married and bearing children, statistical office data showed Wednesday.
The total fertility rate, which gauges the average number of babies that a woman is expected to have during her lifetime, stood at 0.78 in 2022, down from 0.81 in the previous year, according to Statistics Korea.
It marked the lowest since the statistical agency began to compile the data in 1970. The fertility rate hovered below 1 for the fifth consecutive year since 2018, continuing to break previous record lows.
The record-low fertility rate came as more young people delayed or gave up on getting married and having children due to high costs to rear children, stubborn youth unemployment and high housing prices along with the changed social perception of marriage.
South Korea was the only county with the total fertility rate remaining below 1 among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), of which the fertility rate averaged 1.59 in 2020.
The number of newborn babies reached a new low of 249,000 in 2022, down 4.4 percent from the previous year.
The annual number of childbirth stayed below 300,000 for the third successive year, after falling below 400,000 for the first time in 2017.
The crude birth rate, or the number of newborns per 1,000 people, also hit a new low of 4.9 in 2022, down from 5.1 in the prior year.
The average age for women giving birth came to 33.5 in 2022, up from 33.4 a year earlier.
The ratio of newborn boys to every 100 newborn girls stood at 104.7 in 2022, down from 105.1 in 2021.
Meanwhile, the number of deaths was 372,800 in 2022, up 17.4 percent from the previous year.
Affected by the rapid growth in deaths and the record-low childbirth, the country posted a natural fall in population for the third consecutive year in 2022.
The natural population fall reached 123,800 in 2022, up from 32,600 in 2020 and 57,100 in 2021. Enditem
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