August Births Hit 24,000, Highest in 7 Years... Longest Streak of Increases Ever

The number of babies born in August of this year reached its highest level for the same month in seven years.

The number of newborns continued its longest-ever rising streak, with cumulative births this year already nearing the 200,000 mark.

According to the "August 2026 Population Trends" released by the Korea Statistics Agency today (the 28th), the number of newborns in August stood at 23,703, up 13.0% from a year earlier.

The number of births for the month of August is the highest since 2019 (24,371).

After steadily declining through 2023 and falling below the 20,000 mark, August births rebounded for the third consecutive year, following 2024, last year, and this year.

Monthly births continued an upward trend for 26 consecutive months starting from July 2024.

This breaks the previous record for the longest continuous increase, surpassing the 25-month period from February 2006 to February 2008.

In particular, the growth rate for August of this year was 13.0%, marking the second-highest on record following 2007 (17.6%), which was the "Year of the Golden Pig."

Cumulative births from January to August stood at 193,783, also the highest level since 2019 (208,018).

Compared to the same period last year (169,211), it surged by 14.5%, recording the highest growth rate ever.

The steady rise in births appears to be driven by positive shifts in perceptions of childbirth, coupled with recent increases in marriages and the population in their 30s.

The total fertility rate for August—the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime—stood at 0.87, an increase of 0.09.

Attention is focused on whether the upward trend in births will continue to help the annual total fertility rate recover to 0.90 this year.

By birth order, first-born children accounted for 63.8% of newborns, expanding by 1.6 percentage points (p).

Second-born children (30.5%) and third-or-more-born children (5.7%) contracted by 1.0 percentage point and 0.6 percentage points, respectively.

The number of marriages, a leading indicator of childbirth, stood at 19,218, down 1.2%.

The number of marriages declined for the first time in three months since May (-6.4%).

However, the Statistics Agency analyzed that this was due to a base effect following the steep increase in marriages between 2024 and 2025 in the wake of COVID-19.

Cumulative marriages from January to August totaled 165,874, up 5.2% from the same period a year earlier.

Marriages increased in 13 cities and provinces, including Daejeon and Ulsan, while decreasing in 3 cities and provinces, including Gyeonggi and Sejong.

The number of divorces rose 4.4% to 7,510.

Divorces increased in 11 cities and provinces, including Ulsan and Busan, but decreased in 5 cities and provinces, including Sejong and Gyeongbuk.

The number of deaths increased by 4.9% to 30,308.

By region, deaths increased in 13 cities and provinces, including Sejong and Daegu, while decreasing in only 3 cities and provinces, including Daejeon and Gyeongbuk.

Due to the number of deaths exceeding newborns, the population experienced a natural decline of 6,605 in August.

The population grew naturally in only 4 cities and provinces, including Sejong and Gyeonggi, while declining naturally in 12 cities and provinces, including Jeonbuk and Gyeongbuk.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.