Seoul, Sep 27 (IANS): South Korea extended a natural decrease in population in July amid rapid aging, with the number of babies born recording yet another fresh low, data showed on Wednesday.

Only 19,102 babies were born in July, down 6.7 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 10 consecutive months,reports Yonhap News Agency.

It was the first time for July figures to fall below 20,000 since the agency started compiling related data in 1981.

In contrast, the number of deaths in the country jumped 8.3 per cent over the period to 28,238 amid the aging population, resulting in a natural decrease in population by 9,137.

The trend of deaths surpassing births has continued for 45 straight months.

The data showed that the number of marriages also fell 5.3 per cent over the period to 14,155. Divorces also edged down 0.5 per cent to 7,500.

Last month, the agency said South Korea'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.