South Korea's birth rate in 2025 has demonstrated the fastest annual growth since 2010, signaling a potential shift in the nation's demographic trajectory.
Operative Information Center-OMM reports, citing foreign media outlets, that 254,500 babies were born last year, representing an increase of 16,100 compared to 2024.
The 6.8 percent rise in the number of newborns is recorded as the fastest annual increase in fifteen years. These figures indicate a continuation of the upward trend in birth rates observed over the past two years. Furthermore, the country's total fertility rate rose by 0.05 compared to 2024, reaching 0.8, the highest level in the last four years. However, the data also reveals that the number of deaths in 2025 increased by 1.3 percent annually to 363,400, resulting in a natural population decline of 110,000 people.
South Korea has long struggled with demographic challenges, having ranked first among countries with the world's lowest birth rates in 2023 with a coefficient of 0.72. The South Korean government has implemented various social and economic incentives to encourage family growth and combat the aging population crisis. This recent uptick is viewed by experts as a critical development for the fourth-largest economy in Asia, which faces long-term labor shortages and rising healthcare costs associated with its shifting demographic profile.
