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Korea sees fastest increase in childbirths in 15 years as fertility rate reaches 0.8

Published: 25 Feb. 2026, 13:32

A nurse cares for a newborn at a hospital in Goyang, just west of Seoul, on Dec. 26, 2025. [YONHAP]

The number of babies born in Korea grew at the fastest pace in 15 years in 2025, with the country's total fertility rate rising to 0.8 for the first time in four years, government data showed Wednesday.

A total of 254,500 babies were born last year, up 6.8 percent, or 16,100, from 2024, according to the provisional data from the Ministry of Data and Statistics. The ministry will announce the final statistics in August.

The 2025 tally marks the steepest on-year increase since 2010, and the second consecutive year of growth.

The total fertility rate, the average number of children a woman is expected to have over her lifetime, came to 0.8, up 0.05 from a year earlier, recovering the threshold for the first time in four years.

The ministry attributed the rebound in the number of newborns to an increase in marriages and the continued growth in the population of women in their early 30s, the prime childbearing age group, since 2021.

"The number of marriages gained ground for 21 straight months from April 2024 to December last year as couples who had delayed their marriages due to the COVID-19 pandemic tied the knot," Park Hyun-jeong, a ministry official, explained.

Born at the stroke of midnight, two baby girls became the first babies of 2026. Left is nicknamed Jjaemi and right is nicknamed Dori. [CHA MEDICAN CENTER GANGNAM]

Park also said there was a notable change in social perception toward childbirth, with the ministry's latest biennial survey in 2024 showing an increase in people with the intention to have children after marriage from two years earlier.

The proportion of people who are willing to give birth outside of marriage also went up, she added.

In terms of the total fertility rate, Park projected the figure to stay above the 0.8 level this year and further rise to the 1 mark in 2031.

Data also showed that the number of deaths added 1.3 percent on year to 363,400 in 2025, resulting in a natural population decline of 110,000.

Yonhap