The increase in the Asian country, where there is a high correlation between marriages and births, follows a rebound in marriages that were delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Summary

South Korea’s birth rate is projected to rise in 2024 for the first time in nine years, driven by a 13.5% rebound in marriages in 2023, delayed due to the pandemic.

The country, with the world’s lowest fertility rate (0.72 in 2023), recorded a 3% increase in newborns (January–November 2024).

High cultural correlation between marriage and childbirth contributes to the trend.

  • otpEnglish
    6·
    6 hours ago

    I wonder what caused the increase. Some changes in the working laws? Better financial stability? Or even something more negative, like fewer options for young women?

    (Though with rising costs, they’d still probably need to find men with very high paying jobs…)

    • LostWon@lemmy.caEnglish
      7·
      5 hours ago

      The second half of the article mostly talks about delayed marriages after the pandemic (since folks don’t want to have kids outside of marriage), and financial incentives. Hard to be sure if they’re really the reason and if the bump isn’t just from a backlog of marriages they were catching up on, as implied.