Births Drop to Fresh Record Low in March

Korea's fertility rate continues to fall. Statistics Korea said on Wednesday that 27,100 births were recorded in March, down nearly 10 percent on-year and the lowest figure for March on record.

In the first quarter of this year, the number of newborn babies fell 7.6 percent from a year earlier to 83,100. The total fertility rate -- the total number of children born to a woman over her lifetime -- was 1.01 for the quarter, down from 1.07 on-year. For the whole of 2018, the rate was 0.98.

Korea has the lowest fertility rate out of 35 countries in the OECD. In fact, it is the only country with a rate below 1.

Experts say that for Korea to maintain its population at the current level of around 50 million, the fertility rate needs to be at least 2.1.