The number of newborn babies in South Korea
rose for the seventh consecutive month in September, despite general concerns about the country's low birthrate, a government report showed Wednesday.
The number of babies born in the month totalled 42,200, up a solid 10.5 percent, or 4,000, from September of last year, according to the report by Statistics Korea.
The country's birthrate rebounded from minus territory in March of this year and moved up 5.8 percent on-year in August after growing 3.6 percent in the previous month.
The office said the monthly increase came mainly from more babies being born in Seoul and neighbouring Gyeonggi Province, which together account for roughly half of the country's 49 million population.
Despite recent upbeat numbers, the country's birthrate remains one of the lowest in the world. The country's total fertility rate, which is the
average number of children that are born to a woman over her lifetime, stood at just 1.15 as of 2009, which is lower than the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development average of 1.71.
The report also showed the number of marriages edging up 1.3 percent to 21,200 couples in September from a year earlier. The number of divorces dropped 13.2 percent on-year to 9,200 cases, marking the ninth straight month of declines.
The report, in addition, showed the number of deaths reaching 20,400 in the cited month, a 6.8 percent gain from the year before.
The statistics office, meanwhile, said 670,600 people moved within the country in October, 5.4 percent less than a year ago.