July Births Reach 24,275, Highest in Seven Years; Population Declines for 81st Month

In July, the number of births reached 24,275, marking the highest increase in seven years. However, the overall population continues to experience natural decline.

According to the National Data Agency's 'Population Trends for July 2026' released on the 23rd, the number of births in July increased by 2,421 (11.1%) compared to the previous year. The total fertility rate, which estimates the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime, rose to 0.89, an increase of 0.08 from the same month last year.

In terms of birth order, the proportion of firstborns increased by 1.7 percentage points compared to the previous year, while the proportions of second and third or higher-order births decreased by 0.9 and 0.8 percentage points, respectively.

Park Hyun-jung, head of the Social Statistics Division at the National Data Agency, stated, "The number of births is the highest since July 2019 (24,222 births) and the second highest increase rate since July 2007 (12.4%)."

In the same month, the number of deaths was recorded at 28,921, an increase of 839 (3.0%) from the previous year. Deaths increased in 12 provinces, excluding four cities, including Seoul and Daejeon.

After subtracting the number of deaths from the number of births, the total population experienced a natural decrease of 4,647. This marks the 81st consecutive month of decline since November 2019.

Marriage, a leading indicator of birth rates, was reported at 22,282 in July, an increase of 1,890 (9.3%) compared to the same period last year. Marriages rose evenly across 15 provinces, excluding Jeju.

The number of divorces in July decreased by 59 (-0.8%) to 7,764 compared to the previous year.

According to the domestic population movement statistics for August, the number of movers was 471,000, a decrease of 4.5% (-22,000) from the previous year. The population mobility rate, which indicates the number of movers per 100 people, was 10.9%, down 0.5 percentage points from the same month last year.

* This article has been translated by AI.