Childbirths decline for eighth straight month in August in Seoul

Childbirths in South Korea fell for the eighth straight month in August amid worries over the country's chronically low birthrate, a government report showed Thursday. According to the report by Statistics Korea, the number of babies born in August came to about 36,700, down 11.6 percent, or 4,800, from the same month a year earlier. This marked the eighth straight month that childbirths have declined since January. The latest childbirth report comes as South Korea is pushing to raise the birthrate in the country, whose decline is feared to eventually shrink the overall working population, increase welfare expenses and undercut the country's growth potential. The report also showed that the number of marriages rose 4.9 percent, or 1,200, on-year to 25,600 in August. This is the fourth straight month that the figure has increased since May. Divorces, however, declined 2 percent, or 200, over the same period to 9,800, while the number of deaths in August stood at 21,200, almost unchanged from a year earlier, the report showed. In a separate report, the agency said that the number of people changing their residences in September declined 3.8 percent on-year to about 490,000. This is the lowest figure since January 1987 when 468,000 people changed their legal residence, the agency said, attributing the decline to the prolonged property market slowdown