In South Korea, the birthrate, which measures the number of children a woman gives birth to, hit a record low of 0.72 last year, and the country's declining birthrate continues to show no signs of slowing down.
The Korea Statistical Office announced at a press conference on the 28th that the total fertility rate, which measures the number of children born to a woman, was 0.72 last year.
This is a record low, down 0.06 points from 0.78 a year ago, marking the eighth consecutive year that it has been lower than the previous year.
Additionally, the number of children born last year was the lowest on record at approximately 230,000, and has decreased by nearly half compared to 10 years ago.
The Korea Statistical Office points out that the declining birth rate is due to the increasing number of people who do not have children even after getting married, and it is possible that this year's birth rate will fall further and fall below 0.7. I explained that I was making an estimate.
South Korea's birth rate is the lowest among member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the declining birthrate continues to be unstoppable.
With the declining birthrate and aging of the population expected to continue accelerating in the future, President Yoon Seong-yeol has expressed a sense of crisis, saying, ``We must identify the causes and take countermeasures on a different level than in the past.''
In addition, both the ruling and opposition parties are promoting measures to combat the declining birthrate as one of the pillars of their pledges in the run-up to the general election in April this year, and the challenge is whether the country can move forward with effective measures. Masu.