S Korea's total fertility rate hit record low of 0.81 last year

South Korea's total fertility rate hit a record low of 0.81 last year. Korea is the only country with the birth rate below 1 among OECD members.

The number of newborns in South Korea reached a record low of 260,000-range, and the average of age of mothers at first birth increased to 33.4.

Statistics Korea released the 'Preliminary Results of Birth and Death Statistics in 2021' on February 23.

According to Statistics Korea, the total fertility rate (the average number of children a woman could bear in her lifetime) fall to 0.81 last year, down from 0.84 the previous year.

Considering that the birth rate decreased by 0.08 from 0.92 in 2019 to 0.84 in 2020, the decrease gap slightly reduced, but Korea still remained at the lowest birth rate in the world.

As of 2019, the fertility rate among OECD member states averaged 1.61. Korea's total fertility rate has fallen to half of the OECD average.

Korea was the only country whose fertility rate stayed below 1 among 38 OECD member countries and hit the lowest. Korea's total fertility rate in 2019 was 0.92, the only one in the zero range. The total fertility rate fell further in 2021.

After the total fertility rate in Korea fell below two for the first time with 1.74 in 1984, it decrease to 1.1-1.3 in the 2000s. Since then, the total fertility rate has been on the decline to 0.92 in 2019, 0.84 in 2020, and 0.81 in 2021.

The total fertility rate is expected to fall to around 0.7 this year. (ANI/Global Economic)

( With inputs from ANI )

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