South Korea Sees 20% Jump in March Births to 7-Year High

By Kang Yoon-seung SEJONG, May 27 (Yonhap) -- The number of babies born in South Korea shot up nearly 20 percent in March to a seven-year high from 2025 amid a higher number of marriages, government data showed Wednesday. A total of 25,200 babies were born in March, jumping 19.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Ministry of Data and Statistics. It marked the highest number since 27,049 tallied in March 2019. The number of newborns has been on an upward trend since July 2024. Over the January-March period, the total number of births came to 75,013, up 14.8 percent from a year earlier. It was also the highest since the first quarter of 2019. The country's total fertility rate, the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime, rose 0.15 from a year earlier to 0.93 in March. The rate still remains well below the 2.1 births per woman needed to maintain a stable population without immigration. The number of marriages in March rose 10.1 percent from a year earlier to 21,112. The figure rose for 22 consecutive months through January before tumbling in February on the fewer number of working days due to the extended Lunar New Year holiday. The latest March figure marks the highest level since 22,773 recorded in 2018, the ministry added. The number of divorces, meanwhile, added 9.4 percent to 7,884. The data showed the number of deaths went up 1.3 percent from a year earlier to 31,423 in March, resulting in a natural population decline of 6,224.