10월 출생아 역대 최저…저출산 고착화 현상 심화<br /><br />South Korea has long been troubled by falling birth rate. <br />The numbers hit an all time low in October. <br />There's been a series of measures implemented to solve the problem, but they clearly they weren't very effective.<br />For details let's turn to our Seo Eun-kyung.<br /> It seems that measures to reverse South Korea's low birth rate are having little impact. <br />According to Statistics Korea on Wednesday, the number of births in October this year stood at 26-thousand-5-hundred, down 5-percent compared to last year. <br /> It's the eighth month this year that the number of births has been under 30-thousand, with only January and March seeing more than 30-thousand newborns.<br />Birth figures are often compared to the same month in previous years to account for seasonal variations, and for the last 31 months in a row, there have been fewer births in Korea than in the same month the previous year.<br />If there are no major changes in the trend, the government predicts that only 330-thousand babies will be born this year.<br />The number of births fell below 400-thousand last year... for the first time since the figure was first recorded in 1981.<br />Statistics Korea says the falling number of births can be largely attributed to the steadily falling marriage rate.<br />In fact, according to a national survey in November, the percentage of Koreans who think people should get married has dropped below 50 percent for the first time. <br />The marriage rate has been showing a steady decline since 1990, and the number of marriages in 2017 was the lowest ever in Korea.<br />Seo Eun-kyung, Arirang News.
