South Korea’s population crisis worsens as its fertility rate plummets to record low

The number – of children a woman is expected to have – fell below 1.0 for the first time, far below the 2.1 needed to maintain population stability

This means South Korea’s population, now 51 million, may start sliding even before 2028, the year Seoul had forecast as the beginning point for its decline

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Official data showed that more than 30 per cent of all South Korean women who gave birth last year were 35 or older. Photo: Alamy

Published: 10:34pm, 27 Feb 2019Updated: 6:11am, 28 Feb 2019

South Korea’s fertility rate hit another record low last year, government data showed Wednesday, falling to less than one for the first time despite a raft of measures to try to reverse a birth rate among the world’s lowest.

The country’s fertility rate – the number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime – fell to 0.98 in 2018, far short of the 2.1 needed to maintain population stability.

“It is the first time that the figure has dropped below one since Seoul started collecting data in 1970,” Statistics Korea said in a statement.

This means the population of the world’s 11th largest economy, currently 51 million, may start sliding before 2028, the year Seoul had forecast as the beginning point for its decline.

The 2017 figure of 1.05 was also a record low.

Most South Koreans associate child-rearing with marriage, but put off getting wed to prioritise higher education and career. Photo: EPA

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