Birthrate at its lowest since 1970

With the gradual fall in Korea¡¯s birth rate, 1999 recorded the lowest rate since 1970.

The current birthrate for girls, lower than that of other developed nations such as the United States and France, is expected to lead to a decreasing population beginning in 2029.

According to the Bureau of Statistics' report, The Current State of the Population for 1999, released Wednesday revealed that the average male marries at age 29.1, while the average female marries at 26.3, and that the highest divorce rate occurs for men at the age of 40 and for women at the age of 36.4.

On a daily basis, 1,688 infants are born, while 675 people die. Also, 994 couples marry while 323 divorce everyday.

In 1999, the number of births recorded 616,00, which is 27,000 fewer than in 1998. The statistics on population, which have been collected since 1970, recorded births of 1.01 million infants in 1970, but 66,000 in 1990. The number rebounded in 1995 at 72,000 but has steadily decreased for the past five years.

On a daily basis, the birthrate recorded 1,688 infants, and the average number of children for women during their fertility years recorded 1.42, which is fewer than the 1.65 recorded in 1995. The number reveals that Korean have fewer children in comparison to the United States (2.06 in 1988 figure), Britain (1.72) and France (1.75).

"If the current birthrate continues, Korea will face a population decrease starting in 2029," an expert observed.

The birthrate gap between genders, which has been steadily increasing since the late 1980s, reached a peak in 1990 with 116.5 boys for every 100 girls, but dropped to 109.6 in 1999. However, the number of sons among those born after a second child recorded a high of 143.1.

The daily death rate recorded 675 persons. For every 1,000 people, 5.2 met their deaths daily, a steady decrease since the 1970s but steady figure for the past four to five years.

Lee Myung-Jai mjlee@donga.com