SEOUL, June 26 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's births rebounded in 19 months amid lingering concerns about a continued slide in the Asian country's population, statistical office data showed Wednesday.
The number of newborn babies gained 2.8 percent from a year earlier to 19,049 in April, marking the first rebound in 19 months since September 2022, according to Statistics Korea.
The turnaround was attributable to the low base effect, which means that the country's births tumbled to the worst level.
The newborns had been on the decline as young couples delayed or gave up on having children owing to economic difficulties such as high housing prices and stubborn unemployment.
The low birth rate fueled worry about a so-called demographic cliff, which refers to a sharp reduction in the heads of household eventually leading to a consumption cliff.
The number of marriages jumped 24.6 percent to 18,039 in April compared with the same month of last year, while the number of divorces increased 5.7 percent to 7,701.
The number of deaths expanded 4.0 percent to 28,659 in the cited month.
Affected by higher deaths and the still low births, the country's population continued to decrease since November 2019. ■