Childbirths rise for 15th month in September: data

The number of babies born in Korea increased for the 15th month straight in September, largely due to an increase in marriages, data showed Wednesday. A total of 22,369 babies were born in September, up 8.6 percent from 20,589 babies born the same month last year, according to the data from the Ministry of Data and Statistics. The number of newborns has been on an upward trend since July 2024. September's birth figure is the highest for any September since 2020, when 23,499 babies were born. A total of 191,040 babies were born between January and September, up 12,488 from the same period last year, marking the largest on-year increase for the first nine months of the year since 2007. Based on the continued growth of births and marriages since the second half of last year, the total number of new births this year is expected to exceed last year's total of 238,317. The country's total fertility rate, the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime, rose 0.06 from a year earlier to 0.85 in September. The ministry said the recent rise in births appears to have been iWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times