The number of births in September rose 8.6% from a year earlier. Births have increased for 15 consecutive months since July last year. The main factors are analyzed to be increases in marriages and in the population of women in their 30s.
The National Data Office released the September population trends on the 26th. There were 22,369 births in September, up 1,780 from September last year (20,589).
In addition, cumulative births for January to September this year totaled 191,040, up 12,488 (7%) from the same period last year (178,552).
The total fertility rate, the average number of children a woman is expected to have over her lifetime, was 0.85 in September. That was up 0.06 from September last year (0.79), and it has been steadily increasing from January this year compared with a year earlier.
The number of deaths in September was 28,101, down 1,136 (3.9%) from September last year (29,237). With deaths outnumbering births, the population fell by 5,732.
An official at the data office said, "As marriages and women in their 30s increased, the number of births also rose."
There were 18,462 marriages in September, up 3,095 (20.1%) from the same period last year (15,367). Marriages have increased year over year for 18 consecutive months since April 2024. In particular, marriages in September this year recorded the largest increase since statistics began in 1981. Divorces in September totaled 7,959, up 429 (5.7%) from September last year (7,530).
Meanwhile, 442,000 people moved their residence across eup, myeon and dong boundaries in October, down 79,000 (15.2%) from October last year (521,000). The migration rate, the number of movers per 100 people, was 10.2%, down 1.8 percentage points (p) from October last year (12.1%).