Yonhap reported that the Bank of Korea (BOK) released a report on December 3 showing that the country's total fertility rate - the average number of children a woman aged 15-49 has in her lifetime - fell to 0.81, the lowest among 35 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2021.
According to a report by the BOK, the central bank of Korea, among 217 countries and territories, including OECD member countries, Korea has the second lowest birth rate. The birth rate in Korea fell 86% between 1960 and 2021 (from 5.95 to 0.81), the fastest rate among 217 economies.
Birthrate is falling sharply in South Korea
If the current trend continues unabated, the South Korean economy will experience negative growth by 2050 and the total population will fall below 40 million by 2070, from the current 51 million, the report said.
The BOK said the main reasons for the record low birth rate were fierce social competition, difficult job searches, high living costs and growing concerns about children's safety.
The Bank of Korea expects the total fertility rate to rise to 0.845 if the government takes measures to lower housing prices, reduce urban concentration and raise the employment rate among unmarried young people to levels on par with other OECD countries.
According to Statistics Korea, the country's total fertility rate fell to 0.7 in the July-September period, down 0.1 from a year earlier, marking a record low for a quarter since data began being kept in 2009.
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