South Korea's Birth Rate Falls To A Record Low In 2005
(they better make some babies or androids fast!)
SEOUL (AP)--South Korea's birth rate fell to a record low last year as women married older and had babies later, government statistics showed Monday.
The country's total fertility rate - the average number of children born to a woman over her life time - fell to 1.08 in 2005, compared with 1.16 the previous year, the National Statistical Office said in a report.
The figure is the lowest since South Korea began tallying its birth rate in 1970, when women had an average of 4.53 children.
"It looks like women tend to have babies when they are older," the report said, noting that they were also becoming more involved in the work force, getting better education and marrying later.
Some 438,000 babies were born last year, down from 476,052 in 2004, the report said.
More women in their 30s gave birth in 2005 than any other age group, accounting for 50.3% of all women who had babies. That compares with 2004, when more women were giving birth in their 20s.
The average age at which women had their first marriage last year was 27.7, compared with 26.5 in 2000 and 25.4 in 1995, according to the report.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 08, 2006 06:29 ET (10:29 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.- - 06 29 AM EDT 05-08-06 |
