Seoul, Aug 30 (IANS): South Korea extended a natural decrease in population in June as the fertility rate hit yet another record low, reflecting the grim demographic trend, data showed on Wednesday.

Only 18,615 babies were born in June, down 1.6 per cent from a year earlier, according to the monthly report from Statistics Korea.

The number of babies born in South Korea has fallen on-year for 91 consecutive months, reports Yonhap News Agency.

In contrast, the number of deaths in the country shot up 7.6 per cent over the period to 26,820 amid the aging population, resulting in a natural decrease in population by 8,205.

The trend of deaths surpassing births has continued for 44 straight months.

The country's total fertility rate, the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime, came to a record low of 0.7 in the second quarter of 2023, down 0.05 from a year earlier.

It was much lower than the replacement level of 2.1 that would keep South Korea's population stable at 51 million.

The data showed that the number of marriages moved up 7.8 per cent over the period to 16,053.

The rise came as couples who had delayed their weddings during the Covid-19 pandemic finally decided to tie the knot.

Divorces also moved up 2.7 per cent over the period at 7,791 cases.

In the second quarter, the number of babies born came to 56,087, down 6.8 per cent on-year.

The number of deaths stood at 83,359 in the April-June period, marking a 7.9 per cent fall for the same period.

The figures led to a net natural decrease of 27,272 in the population.