S.Korea's childbirth in October 2nd-lowest in history

SEOUL, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- South Korea recorded in October the second-lowest childbirth figure in history, boosting worry about low growth potential amid a falling workforce, statistics showed Wednesday.

The number of newborn babies was 27,900 in October, down 3,700, or 11.7 percent, from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea. It was the second-lowest figure in history, just behind the record low of 27,400 childbirths tallied in December last year.

The childbirth continued to fall for 23 months in a row since December 2015, marking the double-digit decline for 10 straight months.

For the first 10 months of this year, the childbirth was 306,000, down 12.2 percent compared with the same period of last year.

The double-digit decline was attributable to the falling number of women of childbearing age and the social trend to delay marriage and the first childbirth.

The number of marriage tumbled 20.9 percent over the year to 17,400 in October.

The country's childbirth maintained a downward trend since 2013 except for the increase of 3,000 in 2015. The fall in October heralded a fresh yearly low in 2017.

The low birth rate has been a headache for the South Korean economy with its dropping number of workforce and the fast-aging population. The low childbirth and the aging population would drag down the economy's growth potential.

President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday that the government's measures to bolster childbirth had failed due to lack of incentives to encourage women to raise children as well as have babies. He ordered a set of comprehensive measures to change the life of women. Enditem