The number of childbirths in South Korea in the January-March period fell to the lowest level in history, a government report showed Wednesday.

About 33,200 babies were born in March, down 13.1 percent from a year earlier and the corresponding figure for the first three months came to 98,800, down 12.3 percent from a year ago, according to the data from Statistics Korea. New births have been falling by double digits since the fourth quarter of last year.

The number of childbirths also stayed under the threshold of 100,000 for two consecutive quarters. Given a seasonal characteristic of higher childbirths in the first quarter than in other quarters, the total number of childbirths this year is expected to fall below the 400,000 threshold for the first time. South Korea already hit a yearly low with 406,300 babies born last year.

The total fertility rate, which refers to the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime, is steadily declining, with 0.29 in the first quarter, down by 0.04 a year ago.

On top of shunning childbirth, fewer are getting married. Marriages fell 6.8 percent on year to 23,300 in March, and the corresponding figure for the first quarter shrank 3.6 percent to 68,700 marriages. At the same time, 9,500 couples divorced in March, up 5.6 percent from a year earlier, sending the first-quarter figure up 4.7 percent to 26,500.

By Lee Seung-yoon

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]