SEOUL, May 27 (AJP) - The number of newborns in South Korea in March rose above 25,000, marking the highest level for the month in seven years, government data showed Wednesday. The rebound in births has now extended into a second straight year, supported by a rising number of marriages and more births among women in their early and late 30s.
According to South Korea’s monthly population data for March released by the Ministry of Data and Statistics, 25,200 babies were born in March, up 19.4 percent from a year earlier. It marked the sharpest year-on-year increase for the month since the agency began compiling related data in 1981.
The number of births had fallen below 20,000 a month at several points in 2024, fueling concerns over the country’s shrinking population and long-term labor shortages. However, South Korea saw its total number of newborns at 75,013 in the first quarter of 2026, up 14.8 percent from a year earlier. It was the highest first-quarter increase on record and the largest number of births for the January-March period since 2019.
The improvement was also reflected in the country’s fertility rate. South Korea’s total fertility rate, the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime, stood at 0.93 in March, up from 0.78 a year earlier, remaining above 0.9 for a third consecutive month. If the trend continues, the annual figure could climb toward 0.9 this year after hitting a record low of 0.80 in 2025.
The rise in marriages also continued, though the pace of growth slowed from the previous year. The number of marriages during the first quarter rose 6.1 percent from a year earlier to 62,309, compared with an 8.4 percent increase a year earlier.
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