SEOUL, April 24 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's births kept falling in February, fueling worry about a continued slide in the Asian country's population, statistical office data showed Wednesday.
The number of newborn babies shrank 3.3 percent over the year to 19,362 in February, marking the lowest February figure since relevant data began to be compiled in 1981, according to Statistics Korea.
The newborns had been on the decline since October 2022 as young couples delayed or gave up on having children due to economic difficulties such as high housing prices and stubborn unemployment.
The low birth rate fueled worry about the demographic cliff, which refers to a sharp fall in the heads of households eventually leading to a consumption cliff.
The number of marriages slipped 5.0 percent to 16,949 in February compared to the same month of last year, while the number of divorces grew 1.8 percent to 7,354.
The number of deaths increased 9.6 percent to 29,977 in the cited month.
Affected by the high number of deaths and lower births, the population of South Korea continued to decrease since November 2019. ■
