As marriages increase, the number of births has been rising for 13 consecutive months. Thanks to this, the cumulative number of births from January to July this year recorded the highest growth rate since related statistics began being compiled in 1981.
According to the "July population trends" released by Statistics Korea on the 24th, the cumulative number of births through July this year was 147,804, up 7.2% from the same period a year earlier. This is 0.3 percentage points (p) higher than the previous record growth rate of 6.9% in 2007.
The number of births in July was 21,803, an increase of 5.9% from the same month last year. Although it increased from a year earlier, in sheer numbers it was the fourth lowest on record.
From July last year to July this year, births have steadily increased. As a result, the total fertility rate (the average number of births a woman is expected to have over her lifetime) was 0.8, up 0.04 from July last year.
By region, births increased in 13 provinces and metropolitan cities including Seoul and Busan, and decreased in four including Gwangju and Sejong. By birth order, firstborns accounted for 61.9%, up 1.6 percentage points. Second-borns decreased by 1.6% and third-borns or more decreased by 0.1%, accounting for 31.4% and 6.7%, respectively.
Regarding the reason for the increase in births, an official at Statistics Korea said it was due to "improved perceptions of childbirth and an increase in the population of women in their early 30s."
There were 20,394 marriages in July, up 8.4% from the same month last year. Compared with a year earlier, the number of marriages in July last year jumped 32.9%, the largest increase on record, and this year it increased even more. The cumulative number of marriages from January to July was 138,267, up 7.3% from the same month a year earlier.
The number of deaths in July was 27,979, down 200 from the same month last year. As deaths outnumbered births, the population declined naturally by 6,175. The number of divorces in July was 7,826, down 113 over the same period.
Meanwhile, the number of domestic movers in August was 493,000, down 3.5% from the same month last year. In the greater Seoul area, the population fell in Seoul but increased in Gyeonggi and Incheon.
Last month, Seoul's population decreased by 1,815, while Gyeonggi increased by 3,979 and Incheon by 1,941. Elsewhere, Daejeon (959) saw net inflows, while North Gyeongsang (-1,527) and South Gyeongsang (-1,154) saw net outflows.
The migration rate, an indicator showing the number of movers per 100 people, was 11.4%, down 0.4 percentage points from a year earlier.