The number of babies born in South Korea rose 15.6 percent in June from a year earlier, government data showed Wednesday. In this July photo, nurses take care of newborns at a hospital in Goyang. File Photo by Yonhap
The number of babies born in South Korea rose 15.6 percent in June from a year earlier, marking the 24th consecutive month of on-year growth, government data showed Wednesday.
A total of 23,111 babies were born in June, up 3,115 from 19,996 a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics.
The growth rate was the highest since the government began compiling relevant data in 1981. The increase in absolute terms was also the largest since 1992, when the figure rose by 3,666.
The country's total fertility rate, the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime, rose 0.11 point from a year earlier to 0.88 in June.
