A newborn at a hospital in Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 1 (Korea Bizwire) — The share of first children among the babies born in recent days turned out to be very high, primarily due to the growing trend of raising only one child.
The share of first children among the babies born in the fourth quarter of last year stood at 58.8 percent, the highest since the first quarter of 2015, according to Statistics Korea.
The share of second children has been on a downward trend since the first quarter of 2015 (38.6 percent) and slipped further to 33.4 percent in the fourth quarter of last year.
The primary factors behind this situation include couples choosing to delay marriage and childbirth and the economic burden of raising children.
In the first quarter of 2015, the marriage rate of those in their late 20s stood at 73.9 per 1000, the highest among all age groups.
However, starting from the fourth quarter of 2020, the marriage rate of those in their 30s surpassed that of those in their late 20s.
In the fourth quarter of last year, the fertility rate of women in their late 30s (the number of childbirths per 1,000 women in their late 30s) stood at 39.4, up 0.7 from a year ago.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
