Childbirths decline for sixth straight month in June Korea

Childbirths in South Korea fell for the sixth straight month in June amid worries over the country's chronically low birthrate, a report showed Tuesday. According to the report by Statistics Korea, the number of babies born in June came to about 33,400, down 12.6 percent, or 4,800, from the same month a year earlier. This marked the sixth straight month that childbirths have declined since January. The latest childbirth report comes as South Korea is pushing to raise its birthrate, which is feared to shrink the overall working population, increase welfare expenses and undercut the country's growth potential. The decline is attributable in part to a trend of people delaying marriage and putting off having children. The report showed that the number of marriages inched up 0.8 percent, or 200, to 26,200 in June, but it compared with an 11.6 percent gain tallied a month earlier. Divorces, meanwhile, fell 5.2 percent on-year to 9,200 in June, while the number of deaths totaled 20,300, almost unchanged from a year earlier. In a separate report, the agency said that the number of people changing their residence in July grew 4.4 percent on-year to about 580,000.