November 27, 2025
SEOUL – The number of babies born between January and September surpassed 190,000, marking the largest year-on-year increase in 18 years, government data showed Wednesday.
According to the Ministry of Data and Statistics, 190,140 babies were born in the first nine months of the year, up 12,488 from the same period last year. The last time births increased by a larger margin was in 2007, when the figure rose by 31,258 during the same period.
With the recent rise in marriage and fertility rates, officials said the total number of births this year is likely to exceed last year’s 238,317.
The uptick in births was driven largely by women in their 30s. In the third quarter, the age-specific fertility rate for women aged 25-29 declined by 0.1, while the rate increased by 2.4 for women 30-34 and by 5.3 for those 35-39. The data indicates an increase of 5.3 births per 1,000 women in that age group.
Marriages, a key indicator of future birth trends, have also been rising for 18 consecutive months since April last year. A total of 176,178 marriages were recorded in the first three quarters, up 8.9 percent, or 14,417, from a year earlier.