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[00:00.67] In 2024, the number of babies born in South Korea increased for the first time in nine years.

[00:11.83] The change is welcome news for a country that is dealing with serious population problems.

[00:20.33] South Korea’s statistics agency said recently that 238,300 babies were born last year, an increase of 8,300 from a year earlier.

[00:37.86] The agency said the country’s fertility rate — the average number of babies born to each woman in her reproductive years — was 0.75 in 2024, up from 0.72 in 2023.

[00:58.58] The data represents the first time that the yearly number of births has increased since 2015.

[01:13.72] Choi Yoon Kyung is an expert with the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education.

[01:15.85] Choi told the Associated Press that researchers must wait for more data over the next few years to see if increased births were driven by “structural changes.”

[01:32.05] ark Hyun Jung is with the government agency Statistics Korea.

[01:38.42] Park said the agency believes the rise is partly due to an increase in marriages following postponements of such plans during the COVID-19 pandemic.

[01:52.77] Park said another reason for the increase is that a growing number of people entered their early 30s.

[02:01.80] She also noted a government study that shows a small increase in the number of young people hoping to have children after marriage.

[02:13.22] Official data show South Korea’s fertility rate has been the lowest in the developed world in recent years.

[02:23.31] In 2022, South Korea was the only country with a fertility rate below one, among members of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

[02:40.58] The low fertility rate could threaten South Korea’s economic health.

[02:45.36] The country, Asia’s fourth largest economy, could face labor shortages and greater spending on public assistance programs.

[02:57.05] South Korea’s central and local governments have been increasingly offering several support programs to those who give birth to children.

[03:09.27] But experts say that it will be difficult to solve the country’s population problems.

[03:16.44] Many young people say they do not want to have babies.

[03:22.28] Their reasons include costly housing, low levels of upward social movement, the high costs of raising and educating children, and a culture that requires women to do more of the childcare.

[03:39.02] Park said that the fertility rate will likely stay on an upward movement at least for another year.

[03:48.05] But observers say it remains to be seen whether the rate will go back down as post-pandemic marriages even out.

[03:58.14] The country’s population structure will also change, with a drop in the number of people in their early 30s.

[04:08.23] Some experts argue that the government should pay more attention to supporting young couples who want to have babies.

[04:17.53] “There are still people with solid wills to have a family and babies.

[04:23.11] When we help them realize their hopes, our fertility rate won’t suffer a steep, 45-degree drop,” Choi said.