South Korea birthrate rises for first time in 9 years, marriages surge

While the number of women of childbearing age is forecast to decrease, factors such as government policies and evolving social values can still influence fertility rates,

Park said

The rising trend in marriages that began after the COVID-19 pandemic has continued,

Park Hyun-jeong, an official from Statistics Korea, said at a press briefing

Rather than putting the policy focus only on how to boost the birthrate, we now need a more comprehensive perspective and to devise solutions such as attracting more foreigners,

Joo Hyung-hwan, vice-chairman of a presidential committee on ageing and population, said this week, ... according to the Yonhap news agency

The government has prepared as much as it could at an institutional level, and now we need more companies embracing it,

said Shin Kyung-ah, sociology professor at Hallym University

There is a high possibility of further rises (in fertility rate) in coming years, and we are right at the inflection point,

You Hye-mi, presidential secretary for population policy, told Reuters

The gap is huge between big and small companies in South Korea, and between those employed permanently and temporarily, so the government needs to be more creative to have the system established for all,

Shin said

I think it is not that welcomed, because it is difficult and costs a lot of money to get married, have a baby and family in the Korean society,

said Kim Ha-ram, 21, a student

The society as a whole is encouraging childbirth more than five years ago when we had our first child,

Nam said

We need to make sure to keep the spark alive, which was hard to make, by quickly filling in the blind spots of low-birth policies, such as free-lancers and the self-employed,

Choi Sang-mok, the finance minister who is currently serving as acting president, said this month

Carl Jungsurname

Childcare systems are well established now at a society level through government investments, but we still need companies to change to become more family-friendly, which makes it a job half done,

Jung said

After all, it is for companies to survive. We build apartments, and they will be sold only if there are enough people to live in,

said Kim Jin-seong, human resources director at Booyoung

Korea faces some of the world's most challenging demographics. The government didn't overstate the case when it declared a national demographic emergency in June,

says Kathleen Oh, Morgan Stanley's chief Korea and Taiwan Economist

It is difficult to measure how much each factor contributed to the rise in new births, but they themselves had an impact on each other too,

Park said

There was a change in social value, with more positive views about marriage and childbirth,

Park Hyun-jung, an official at Statistics Korea, told a briefing, also citing the impact of a rise in the number of people in their early 30s and pandemic delays

The news of the birth rate rebounding after nine years is incredibly joyful for me,

said Jun Sang-pill, a 34-year-old office worker

The number of births in 2024 was 238,300, an increase of 8,300 (3.6 percent) from the previous year,

the report added

Xiyeonhousewife

With the birth rate dropping like this, there were even talks about the possibility of South Korea disappearing,

housewife Park said

The graduation ceremony felt quite empty, and I felt sad,

she told Agence France-Presse

The population has seen a significant increase in the number of people in their early 30s,

Park told a press conference

South Korea's birth rate is not just the lowest among OECD countries but it is still the absolute lowest. Please do not distort the facts,

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