1분기 합계출산율 1.01명...전년 동기 대비 0.07명 감소<br /><br />South Korea's fertility rate has continued to fall.<br />According to Statistics Korea today, there were 27-thousand births recorded in March, down near 10 percent on-year, making it the lowest figure for March on record.<br />We have our business correspondent Kim Hyesung in the studio with us for more on this.<br />Hyesung, so how serious is this low birth rate problem? <br />Right Aram.<br />The number of births in Korea has been falling on-year every month since December 2015.<br />Fertility rate is defined as the total number of children that a woman will have in her lifetime. <br />Low birth rate is a phenomenon seen in many advanced countries around the world, but Korea has seen that happen very rapidly.<br />For the first quarter of this year, the total fertility rate was at one-point-zero-one, down from one-point-zero-seven in the first quarter of the previous year.<br />For 2018, Korea's total fertility rate recorded zero-point-98, falling below one. <br /> The rate has been falling since the 1970s when it was at 4-point-five. It dropped below three in the mid-1970s, then below 2 in mid-1980s. <br /> Korea has the lowest fertility rate out of 35 countries in the OECD. In fact, it is the only country with a rate below one.<br />Demographers have said a country's fertility rate needs to be at least 2-point-one for its population to be stable, or for Korea's population to remain at around 50 million. <br />According to National Assembly data, at a rate of 1-point-two, South Korea could face natural extinction by 2750. <br />With the rate currently at just 1, this so-called natural extinction could happen earlier than 2750.<br /><br />Natural extinction. wow. I see how rapidly the Korean population is falling. What are the exact socioeconomic implications resulting from the low fertility rate then?<br />More than anything, it could lower Korea's economic growth.<br />Falling birth rates mean a shrinking working population, those aged between 15 and 64, which is currently around 37 million people.<br />But on top of the falling fertility rate, Korea has an increasing aging population<br />Korea already became an aged society in 2017, with those over the age of 65 accounting for more than 14 percent of the total population.<br />Economic growth depends on capital, labor and technology.<br />With the working population falling, it basically means lower consumption, production from companies will drop, investment falls, unemployment goes up and saving falls, leading to lower public tax revenue. <br />This whole cycle drives down the potential economic growth rate, weighing on the Korean economy which already faces slower growth. <br />The burden on young people to support the elderly also goes up. <br />The number of elderly that need to be supported per 100 people of working age in Korea would increase past 100 in 2067, a faster rate than any other OECD country. <br />...
