hankyoreh

The number of children born in South Korea went up for the first time in six years in 2006, the nation's statistics office said Monday, offering a glimmer of hope for the country's rapidly aging society.

South Korean women gave birth to a total of 452,000 children last year, up 3.3 percent from the previous year, according to the National Statistical Office (NSO). It was the first annual rise since 2000 when the number rose 3.3 percent to 637,000.

The preliminary report showed that the fertility rate, the average number of babies that a woman aged 15-49 gives birth to during her lifetime, also increased from a record-low figure last year.

The rate went up to 1.13 last year from the all-time low of 1.08 the previous year, the office said. The growth was also the first rise in three years.

"The growth in the number of births is partly attributable to an increase in first marriages among South Korean people," the NSO said. "The government's birthrate-boosting measures announced recently also contributed to the births."

In a bid to boost the fertility rate, the government has recently been pushing to offer financial incentives to those who give birth and to working mothers. According to the office's estimate, the country's population is expected to decline from 2020 after peaking at 49.34 million in 2018 due to the low birthrate.

The fertility rate is expected to rise until at least 2007 and may increase further in 2008, the NSO said. The 2006 fertility rate compared with figures of 1.26 for Japan, 2.054 for the U.S. and 1.80 for Britain. In France and Germany, the fertility rates came to 1.983 and 1.34, respectively.

According to the report, an increase in the number of births among women in their early 30s contributed most to the growth.

The number of births by women aged 30-34 rose by 11,000 to 190,000 last year from the previous year, the office said. The number of births by women aged 25-29 fell by 1,000 to 174,000, while that by women aged 20-24 dropped by 2,000 to 31,000.

On average, South Korean women gave birth when they were aged 30.4 last year, up by 0.2 from the previous year, the report showed.

Seoul, May 7 (Yonhap News)