This year too, the decline in the number of births might not be avoided. The number of children born in January last year stood at only 24,000, continuing the decline for 74 months in a row. The number of deaths due to COVID-19 has increased by nearly 10%, and the natural population decline has continued for 27 months.
According to the population trend announced by the National Statistical Office on the 23rd, the number of births in January was 24,598, down 311 (-1.2%) from a year ago. This is the lowest number since 1981, when monthly statistics began to be compiled as of January. The number of monthly births has been decreasing compared to the same month of the previous year for the 74th month since December 2015. The crude birth rate, which indicates the number of births per 1,000 people, was also 5.6, the lowest since statistics were compiled.
On the other hand, the number of deaths increased by 2,457 (9.0%) from the same month of the previous year to 29,686. It is the second highest number since January 2018 (31,550 people) when the cold wave hit in the same month since statistics were compiled in 1983. Noh Hyung-joon, head of the Population Trends Division at the National Statistical Office, said, “The death toll is on the rise due to the aging population. With more deaths than births, the population naturally declined by 5088. The natural population decline has been continuing since November 2019.
The number of marriages was 14,753, down 1527 (-9.4%) from the same month a year ago. This is the lowest level ever recorded for the same month. This is because the number of people in their 30s, the age of marriage, is decreasing, the culture of non-marriage is spreading, and the effect of delaying marriage due to COVID-19 overlaps. The number of divorces also decreased by 1012 (-12.1%) from the same month of the previous year to 7,359.
Meanwhile, according to the ‘Domestic Population Movement Statistics’ released on the same day, the number of people who moved last month was 664,000, down 5.9% from a year ago. This can be attributed to a decrease in the number of housing sales and the number of apartments expected to move in. Population migration has been on the decline for 14 consecutive months since January last year compared to the same month of the previous year. By region, Seoul had a net inflow (3,265 people) for the first time in two years since February 2020. The large-scale apartment move-in in Songpa-gu was reflected.
Reporter Im Joo-hyung
