South Korea has posted its highest annual increase in births in 15 years, official data released this week shows, offering a rare glimmer of hope in the face of a long-running demographic crisis that has seen the nation’s population shrink and age at one of the fastest rates in the world. Government figures indicate that in 2025 a total of roughly 254,500 babies were born across the country, up about 6.8 percent from the previous year — marking the second consecutive annual increase after years of decline and the biggest on-year gain since 2010.
The provisional statistics, which will be finalised in August, also show that South Korea’s total fertility rate — the average number of children a woman is expected to have over her lifetime — rose from about 0.75 in 2024 to 0.80 in 2025. This represents the first return to the 0.8 level since 2021 and continues a modest rebound from a record low of around 0.72 in 2023. Still, that figure remains far below the roughly 2.1 children per woman needed to sustain a stable population without immigration, leaving the country the only Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member with such a low rate.
Officials and demographers attribute much of the short-term increase to shifting population structures and social behaviour rather than a fundamental reversal of long-term trends. A relatively large cohort of South Koreans born in the early 1990s — often dubbed “echo boomers” — has now reached their early thirties, a prime age for childbearing, which temporarily boosts births simply because more women are at that life stage.
Marriage patterns following the Covid-19 pandemic also appear to be a supporting factor. Many couples who delayed weddings during the pandemic are now tying the knot, leading to a sustained rise in marriage registrations and, consequently, childbirths within a shorter period after marriage. Government surveys have also shown slight increases in positive attitudes toward having children, including among couples who marry later and those considering childbirth outside traditional marital structures.
Despite these upticks, experts caution that deeper structural barriers remain significant. High housing costs in urban areas, expensive private education, demanding work cultures that make combining parenthood with careers difficult, and a shrinking overall childbearing population outside the echo-boomer group mean the rebound could be temporary. Analysts warn that after around 2027, when the larger echo-boomer cohort ages out of peak fertility years and younger, smaller cohorts enter adulthood, birth numbers may stagnate or decline again.
Beyond demographic headwinds, the broader population picture in South Korea remains challenging. Deaths continue to outnumber births, with provisional figures indicating that deaths exceeded births by more than 100,000 in 2025, ensuring the overall population continued to shrink despite the birth increase. The country is also dealing with the socioeconomic consequences of an aging society, including rising healthcare and pension costs and potential labor shortages that could dampen long-term economic growth.
The government has poured substantial resources into pro-natal policies over the past two decades, offering measures such as cash handouts to families, housing subsidies, expanded childcare support, extended parental leave and tax benefits aimed at easing the financial burden of raising children. Some large employers have increased family-friendly benefits as well. Yet despite these efforts, experts say that policy measures have only marginally improved outcomes, and long-standing socioeconomic pressures still deter many younger South Koreans from starting families.
In response to ongoing demographic challenges, policymakers continue to explore strategies not only to encourage births but also to attract foreign labor and strengthen social support systems for families, elders and workers alike. Ultimately, while the latest birth rate figures provide a short-lived positive trend, they fall short of fundamentally altering projections that South Korea’s population will continue to age and decline over the coming decades without more profound social and economic changes.
