Seoul's Birthrate Dwindles to New Low

The average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime fell to a record-low 0.69 among Seoul residents in the third quarter of this year.

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Statistics Korea said Wednesday that 73,793 babies were born in the country from July to September of this year, down 8.3 percent compared to the same period of 2018.

The nationwide birthrate stood at 0.88 children, which was the lowest since the compilation of such data started in 1981.

Seoul's birthrate of 0.69 is even lower than the national average and accounts for just one-third of the birthrate of 2.1 children needed to sustain the country's population of about 52 million.

Meanwhile, 24,123 babies were born in September, down 7.5 percent from to the same month a year ago. The country's birthrate has been declining for 46 straight months since December 2015.

At this rate, there is no guarantee that the number of childbirths will remain above 300,000 this year. The cumulative number of newborns in the first nine months of this year stood at 232,317.