Korea's childbirths rise for 13th consecutive month in July: data

The number of babies born in Korea jumped nearly 6 percent from a year earlier in July, backed by a steep climb in marriages, government data showed Wednesday. A total of 21,803 babies were born in July, up 5.9 percent from 20,580 babies born a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the 13th straight month of on-year growth but the fourth-lowest figure for July since the government began record-keeping in 1981. A total of 147,804 babies were born between January and July. The figure represents a 7.2 percent increase from the same period last year, the highest growth rate since 1981. It marked the first time since 2015 the number of newborn babies in the January-July period posted an on-year increase. The country's total fertility rate, the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime, rose 0.04 from a year earlier to 0.8 in July. "The rise in births appears to be influenced by a continued increase in marriages, government policies supporting childbirth and the growth in the population of women in their early 30s," an official aWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times