South Korea recorded 254,500 births in 2025, the largest annual increase in 15 years, pushing the fertility rate to 0.80 from 0.75 the previous year. The provisional figures, released by the Ministry of Data and Statistics on Wednesday, mark the second consecutive annual rise, though deaths exceeded births by 108,900, meaning the population continued to shrink.
Demographers attribute much of the rebound to the 'echo boomer' effect – the roughly 3.6 million children born between 1991 and 1995, when births briefly rose after the government effectively ended its family planning policy. That cohort is now in its early thirties, the age at which birth rates are highest, with women in this age group numbering an estimated 1.7 million in 2025, up 9% from 2020.
Park Hyun-jung, director of the population trends division at the ministry, said the increase reflected this demographic effect alongside sustained growth in marriages as Covid-era delays unwound and improving attitudes toward having children. Government survey data showed the share of respondents intending to have children after marriage rose 3.1% between 2022 and 2024, while births within two years of marriage increased 10.2%.
However, demographers caution that this demographic tailwind is likely to fade from 2027 as smaller post-1996 cohorts move into their thirties. Asked whether government policy contributed to the growth, Park said she 'cannot clearly analyse the correlation', though she noted that young people appeared to be influenced by policies aimed at 'removing penalties from marriage and childbirth'.
South Korea has spent hundreds of billions of dollars on pro-natal measures over two decades, including cash handouts, housing subsidies, extended parental leave and childcare support. Some corporations offer up to 100 million won (£51,500) per birth. Yet experts cite persistently high housing costs, soaring private education spending, workplace stigma against parents and stagnant youth employment as structural barriers that policy has struggled to overcome. Meanwhile, paediatric clinics are closing faster than they open, and many municipalities lack adequate delivery facilities.
