1분기 출생아 8만명대로 첫 추락…"인구감소 눈앞"<br /><br /> The nation's birthrate was at a record-low level in the first quarter of this year.<br /> According to Statistics Korea's , the number of births fell 9-point-2 percent on-year to 89-thousand 6-hundred in the January to March period. <br />That's the lowest since monthly records were first compiled in 1981. <br />The agency warned Korea's birth rate could fall below its death rate, leading to a natural population decrease from 2022... six years sooner than expected. <br />Key contributor to this unwelcome trend is low number of marriages.<br />Less than 67-thousand couples tied the knot in Q1, sliding down 3-point-5 percent from 2017. <br />
