Statistics Korea's February 2026 provisional data show a second consecutive annual rise in births and a TFR recovery from 0.75 to 0.80, driven by an increase in marriages, while natural population decline continues for a 75th straight month
South Korea's total fertility rate rose from 0.72 in 2023, the lowest ever recorded by any country, to 0.75 in 2024 and then to 0.80 in 2025, the first back-to-back annual gains since 2007-2008; births reached 254,500 in 2025, up 6.8% on the year, driven by pandemic-delayed marriages catching up and an echo-boomer cohort entering peak childbearing age; South Korea has spent approximately 380 trillion won ($270 billion) on pro-natal policies since 2006 without previously reversing the trend