SEOUL, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's births logged a double-digit fall for the second successive month in September, leading to the continued slide in population, statistical office data showed Wednesday.
The number of newborn babies dipped 14.6 percent from a year earlier to 18,707 in September, after dropping 12.8 percent in the previous month, according to Statistics Korea.
The newborns have been on the decline for the 12th consecutive month since October 2022 as more young people delayed or gave up on having children due to economic difficulties such as high housing prices and unemployment.
The number of marriages retreated 12.3 percent over the year to 12,941 in September, while the number of divorces shrank 8.1 percent to 7,504.
The number of deaths decreased 3.0 percent to 28,364 in the cited month.
Affected by the still-high deaths and the lower births, the country's population continued to fall for the 47th straight month since November 2019. ■
