Koreans aren't having enough babies

The number of newborns in South Korea fell 8.7 percent in June from a year earlier, government data showed Wednesday, in the latest sign of the continuing low birthrate that has plagued Asia's fourth-largest economy for more than a decade.

The data compiled by Statistics Korea showed that 24,051 babies were born in June, compared with 26,357 babies tallied in the same month of 2018.

It marks the lowest number of newborns reported for any June since 1981, when the statistics agency started compiling data on newborns on a monthly basis.

The number of births in South Korea fell to 326,822 in 2018 from a record high of 1 million in 1970, according to the statistics agency, in a dramatic demographic transition.

Last year, South Korea's total fertility rate ― the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime ― hit a record low of 0.98, much lower than the replacement level of 2.1 that would keep South Korea's population stable at 51 million.

In 2017, South Korea's total fertility rate hit 1.05, the lowest among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group of 36 mostly rich nations whose average total fertility rate stood at 1.65.

The decline in childbirths comes as some young South Koreans are opting to distance themselves from life's three major milestones ― dating, marriage and having children ― because they cannot find decent jobs amid a prolonged economic slowdown.

Other factors are the high cost of private education for kids and skyrocketing home prices, as well as the difficulties women face in finding jobs after spending extended time away from work to raise children.

The number of people tying the knot came to 17,946 in June, the lowest for any June since 1981. (Yonhap)