South Korea recorded 254,500 births in 2025, the largest annual increase in 15 years, according to provisional data from the Statistics Korea population trends division.
The country’s fertility rate rose to 0.80, up from 0.75 in 2024 — the first return to the 0.8 range since 2021. Despite the rise, deaths exceeded births by 108,900, meaning South Korea’s population continued to contract. It remains the only OECD member with fertility below 1.0.
Park Hyun-jung, Director of the Population Trends Division, attributed the rebound to demographic and social factors.
Key developments:
• Births increased 6.8% year-on-year, marking a second consecutive rise.
• Women in their early thirties reached 1.7 million in 2025, up 9% from 2020.
• Births within two years of marriage rose 10.2%, as Covid-delayed weddings recovered.
• Survey data showed a 3.1% rise (2022–2024) in respondents intending to have children after marriage.
Demographers warn the “echo boomer” effect — the larger cohort born during the early-1990s birth rebound, now reaching peak childbearing age — may fade from 2027, as smaller post-1996 cohorts move into their thirties.
South Korea has long recorded among the lowest birth or fertility rates worldwide, and in recent years it has been reported as the lowest by some international comparisons.
ℹ️ The Guardian
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