S. Korea’s births grow for 2nd month in August

SEOUL, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) — South Korea’s births grew for the second straight month in August amid lingering worry about the Asian country’s population fall, statistical office data showed Wednesday.
The number of newborn babies gained 5.9 percent from a year earlier to 20,098 in August after swelling 7.9 percent in the previous month, according to Statistics Korea.
Despite the continued increase, the number of newborns hovered low as young couples delayed or gave up on having children owing to economic difficulties such as high housing prices and stubborn unemployment.
The low birth rate fueled worry about a so-called demographic cliff, which refers to a sharp reduction in the heads of households eventually leading to a consumption cliff.
The number of marriages surged 20.0 percent to 17,527 in August compared to the same month of 2023, after spiking 32.9 percent in the prior month.
The number of divorces shrank 5.5 percent to 7,616 in the cited month, while the number of deaths rose 5.6 percent to 32,244.
Affected by the still-low births and high deaths, the country’s population continued to retreat since November 2019. ■