1분기 합계출산율 1.01명...전년 동기 대비 0.07명 감소
South Korea's fertility rate has continued to fall.
According to Statistics Korea today, there were 27-thousand births recorded in March, down near 10 percent on-year, making it the lowest figure for March on record.
We have our business correspondent Kim Hyesung in the studio with us for more on this.
Hyesung, so how serious is this low birth rate problem?
Right Aram.
The number of births in Korea has been falling on-year every month since December 2015.
Fertility rate is defined as the total number of children that a woman will have in her lifetime.
Low birth rate is a phenomenon seen in many advanced countries around the world, but Korea has seen that happen very rapidly.
For the first quarter of this year, the total fertility rate was at one-point-zero-one, down from one-point-zero-seven in the first quarter of the previous year.
For 2018, Korea's total fertility rate recorded zero-point-98, falling below one.
The rate has been falling since the 1970s when it was at 4-point-five. It dropped below three in the mid-1970s, then below 2 in mid-1980s.
Korea has the lowest fertility rate out of 35 countries in the OECD. In fact, it is the only country with a rate below one.
Demographers have said a country's fertility rate needs to be at least 2-point-one for its population to be stable, or for Korea's population to remain at around 50 million.
According to National Assembly data, at a rate of 1-point-two, South Korea could face natural extinction by 2750.
With the rate currently at just 1, this so-called natural extinction could happen earlier than 2750.
Natural extinction. wow. I see how rapidly the Korean population is falling. What are the exact socioeconomic implications resulting from the low fertility rate then?
More than anything, it could lower Korea's economic growth.
Falling birth rates mean a shrinking working population, those aged between 15 and 64, which is currently around 37 million people.
But on top of the falling fertility rate, Korea has an increasing aging population
Korea already became an aged society in 2017, with those over the age of 65 accounting for more than 14 percent of the total population.
Economic growth depends on capital, labor and technology.
With the working population falling, it basically means lower consumption, production from companies will drop, investment falls, unemployment goes up and saving falls, leading to lower public tax revenue.
This whole cycle drives down the potential economic growth rate, weighing on the Korean economy which already faces slower growth.
The burden on young people to support the elderly also goes up.
The number of elderly that need to be supported per 100 people of working age in Korea would increase past 100 in 2067, a faster rate than any other OECD country.
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