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(courtesy of ClipartKorea)

South Korea’s trend of declining births and increasing deaths continued in July.

For 33 straight months, South Korea’s population has been undergoing a natural decline as deaths have outnumbered births.

Figures on July population trends released on Wednesday by Statistics Korea showed 20,441 total births during the month of July, down by 8.6% from the same month in 2021.

For 76 straight months since April 2016, the number of births has been setting new record lows for the month in question. Geographically, births were down in every metropolitan city and province of South Korea.

A total of 26,030 deaths were recorded in July, an increase of 1.2% from a year earlier. The number of deaths has been gradually increasing amid the population aging trend, although Statistics Korea also said that the effects of COVID-19 have played a part.

The natural decline in South Korea’s population continued for a 33rd month with a drop of 5,588 (representing the difference between births and deaths) during July.

A total of 14,947 marriages were recorded, representing a decline of 5% from a year earlier and the lowest number for any July since statistics were first kept. While a surprise increase was observed in May when marriages rose by 5.5% from the same month in 2021, the declining trend resumed in June with a drop of 8.2% compared with a year earlier.

In terms of cities and provinces, the largest decline in marriages was observed in Seoul. The cumulative total of 20,023 marriages in Seoul between January and July showed the biggest drop for any region, falling by 7.9% compared with the same period in 2021.

Divorces were also down to 7,535, a decline of 9.3% from a year earlier. Analysts interpreted this as a reflection of the decline in new marriages.

By Lee Ji-hye, staff reporter

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