Only 230,000 babies were born in South Korea in 2023, and the average number of births per woman is 0.72%. South Korea is the only country in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to have a rate below one child on average.
Without changing the trend, the population of South Korea will shrink by half by the end of the century. The situation in neighboring Japan is also grim. Even in Japan, the situation is dire: "There is no time to waste"