Births in January-April Approach 100,000, Highest Ever for April

[Financial News] The number of births has continued to rise this year. From January to April, births increased by more than 15% from a year earlier and came close to 100,000. The gains appear to reflect several factors, including a rise in marriages over the past two years, changing perceptions of childbirth, and corporate efforts to encourage maternity leave.
As the Echo Boom Generation, born between 1991 and 1995 and relatively large in population, enters their 30s, the marriage rate is rising and births are expected to keep increasing for the time being. If the trend continues, annual births could return to the 300,000 range this year. Experts say the next five years will be a golden window for lifting the total fertility rate back above 1.0, and they are calling for the public and private sectors to join forces on measures to address low birth rates.
On the 24th, the National Data Office said in its April population trends report that births totaled 24,521, up 18.0%, or 3,734, from a year earlier. It marked the 22nd consecutive month of growth since July 2024.
The growth rate in births was the highest ever for April.
Although the increase was slightly smaller than the previous month, when births reached 22,500 in March, double-digit growth has continued this year. The most recent stretch of double-digit growth lasted five consecutive months, from September 2024 through January last year.
The total fertility rate, which refers to the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime, stood at 0.93, up 0.13 from 0.80 a year earlier.
After falling to 0.75 in 2024, the total fertility rate has continued to rise, reaching 0.80 last year and the 0.9 range this year. It has increased for 16 consecutive months since January 2025.
Earlier, the total fertility rate for the first quarter of this year stood at 0.95, the highest since the first quarter of 2019, when it was 1.02.
Mothers are having children at increasingly older ages. By age-specific fertility rates, births among women aged 30 to 34 were the highest at 86.8 per 1,000 women, up 12.7 from a year earlier. Women aged 35 to 39 followed at 63.4, up 12.3. The average fertility rate for women aged 35 to 39 has been rising by more than 10% every year, reaching 46 in 2024, showing a deepening trend toward later childbirth.
The number of marriages in April rose 9.0%, or 1,703, from a year earlier to 20,622.
That was the highest April figure in 10 years, since April 2016, when 22,844 marriages were recorded. In terms of growth rate, it was the sixth highest on record.
From January to April this year, marriages totaled 82,931, up 6.8% from 77,619 a year earlier. It was the highest figure for the period since 2018, when the total reached 86,761.
Divorces have been on a downward trend since 2022. However, the number of divorces in April rose 7.3%, or 531, from a year earlier to 7,829.
Officer Hyun Dae-hwan of the National Data Office explained, "Divorces remained in the 9,000 range from 2019 to 2021, but since 2022 they have stayed in the 7,000 range due to factors such as the impact of COVID-19 and a decline in marriages."
The number of deaths fell. In April, deaths totaled 28,405, down 1.3% from a year earlier.
skjung@fnnews.com Jung Sang-gyun Reporter