The number of newborns declined last year to 249,000 from 260,600 a year earlier, the statistics office said. That’s less than 5 per cent of the population. In contrast, about 373,000 people died last year, extending what one policymaker called a “death cross”.

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Korea has the world’s fastest-shrinking population among economies with per capita gross domestic product of at least $US30,000 ($43,000), according to United Nations projections and World Bank data. By 2100, the number of people is projected to fall by 53 per cent to 24 million. That’s a further deterioration from a 43 per cent decline forecast in 2019.

Korea’s leaders have increased spending to encourage people to have more babies, including President Yoon Suk Yeol’s policy of tripling payments for mothers of newborns on top of spending billions of dollars each year on childcare subsidies.

The government has also adopted a policy includes enhancing living conditions for retirees, accelerating robot adoption and inviting more foreigners into the workforce.

Economists suggest Korea needs to do more to improve gender equality so that women feel less worried about losing their jobs by having children. High education and housing costs are among other factors putting pressure on fertility, data show.

The average age at which a woman has her first child rose to 33 last year while the number of second children fell by 16.8 per cent. By region, the capital Seoul had the lowest fertility rate at 0.59, while Sejong, home to government headquarters, had the highest at 1.12, according to the statistics office.

The figures are preliminary and may be revised later this year.

Bloomberg, Reuters

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