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Last year's final demographic statistics were released, and the number of births reached 260,000, again recording an all-time low.
The number of children that one woman is expected to have in her lifetime has dropped to 0.81, and Korea is the only OECD member country that continues this level of zero.
First, reporter Jeon Yeon-nam analyzed the relevant statistics.
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There are 26,500 children born in Korea last year.
Another 12,000 fewer than a year ago.
Without going too far, 485,000 people were born in 2012, which has nearly halved in just nine years.
The government predictions were wrong.
In 2010, the National Statistical Office said that Koreans will continue to have many children, 450,000 in 2020, and gradually decrease, but it will decrease to 285,000 by 2060.
He said that it would only happen in 40 years, and he was approaching the population cliff right in front of him.
The number of children that one woman in Korea is expected to have in her lifetime, which is called the total fertility rate, fell below one for the first time in 2018 and fell to 0.81 last year.
It is half of the OECD average, the only one versus zero, and the last in the ranks.
Nevertheless, the government maintains the forecast that this fertility rate will rise again in 10 years and exceed one.
It was taken into account that the number of young women born in the 1990s was slightly increasing compared to before.
[Noh Hyeong-jun / Director of Population Trends, Statistics Korea: Born in 1991 to 1995, this is the population group where the number of births recovered to 700,000.
Entering the main fertility age will have a slightly more positive effect on the number of births
. seems difficult to achieve.
(Video coverage: Kim Min-cheol, Video editing: Kim Jun-hee)
▶ Fertility rate 0.81, population prediction failed…
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