S. Korea's deaths outnumber births for 27th consecutive month in Jan.: Statistics Korea

1월 출산율 역대 최저, 사망율 역대 2번 째 최저 기록... 혼인율과 이혼율 감소 추세 The number of babies born in South Korea fell to a record low for the month of January. Births have been falling year-on-year... every month for more than six years straight. And it seems the pandemic has only exacerbated that trend. Again in January, births were outnumbered by deaths. Lee Rae-hyun has the details. South Korea's birth rate in January was at its lowest on record for the month of January. Data released by Statistics Korea on Wednesday shows... an average of just 5-point-6 babies were born per 1,000 people. The total number of births for January was 24-thousand-598. That's 1-point-2 percent lower than the same period last year marking the 74th straight month of on-year decline. An official from Statistics Korea says... this continuous fall in the birth rate is related to the declining population of women in their 30s. "As the population of women in their 30s is decreasing... which is an average age for women to give birth... this is causing a decline in the birth rate. Adding to this... as people are getting married later... the number of children each couple is having is also dropping." The country saw more deaths than births in January for the 27th consecutive month. This comes after the number of deaths rose by 9 percent on-year to more than 29-thousand. This is the highest point for any January since 2018... when the death rate peaked due to exceptionally cold weather. Meanwhile... the number of marriages in January dropped 9-point-4 percent. The 15-thousand marriages in January was the lowest on record for the month of January. The official said... as people value marriage less important than before, the marriage rate is falling, and it has been made worse by people delaying their marriages due to COVID-19. The divorce rate also dropped over 12 percent... to hit its lowest point since 1997. To deal with the demographic challenges in South Korea... one expert said... more practical policies are needed. "Childcare services should be expanded to ease parents' worries. And the government should create more stable, well paid jobs as one way to improve people's lives and encourage them to get married." The expert also said resolving controversial gender-related issues would help boost the marriage rate. Lee Rae-hyun, Arirang News. #SouthKorea #birth_rate #Statistics 📣 Arirang News(Facebook) :   / arirangtvnews   📣 Arirang News(Twitter) :   / arirangtvnews   📣 News Center(YouTube) :    / newscenter_arirangtv   2022-03-23, 17:00 (KST)