A nurse takes care of a baby at a hospital in Yeongcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, in June. Courtesy of Yeongcheon City
Korea's total fertility rate during the third quarter stood at 0.7, the lowest-ever for a third quarter.
Considering the pattern that the number of births decreases toward the end of a year, there is a possibility that the rate could fall to the 0.6 range in the fourth quarter of this year.
According to the latest data by Statistics Korea on Wednesday, the total fertility rate — the average number of children a woman is expected to give birth to during her lifetime — in the third quarter went down to 0.7, a decrease of 0.1 from a year ago.
The rate was the same figure as the fourth quarter of last year and the second quarter of this year, both of which were record lows for their respective quarters ever seen in the time since related statistics began being compiled in 2009. The rate, which rebounded to 0.81 in the first quarter of this year, has remained at 0.7 for two consecutive quarters during the second and third quarters.
The total fertility rate fell in all 17 cities and provinces across the country. Seoul had the lowest rate of 0.54 babies per woman, followed by 0.64 in Busan. South Jeolla Province recorded the highest rate of 0.96.
The number of births recorded 56,794 in the third quarter, a decrease of 7,381 or 11.5 percent, compared to the same period last year.
The number of deaths in the third quarter was 87,143, an increase of 1,797 or 2.1 percent from the same period last year. As the number of deaths exceeded the number of births, the population naturally decreased by 9,657 people in the third quarter. The country's population has been decreasing for 47 months since November 2019.
