Number of S. Korea's newborns declines in Jan.

SEOUL, March 25 (Yonhap) -- The number of babies born in South Korea fell in January from a year earlier as people refrained from having babies amid an economic downturn, a government report showed Wednesday.

According to the report by the National Statistical Office, the number of
newborns totaled 44,100 in January, down 5.6 percent from a year earlier.
The birth rate has been declining since March 2008 as people tend to delay
weddings and have fewer babies if they get married amid a protracted economic
downturn, experts said.
The number of marriages also dropped. A total of 28,400 couples tied the knot in
January, down 3.7 percent from a year earlier.
Divorces declined, with 9,400 couples filing for divorce in January, down 12.1
percent from the same month a year earlier, the report showed.
Meanwhile, population mobility contracted as a slumping economy caused people to
hold back on housing transactions. The report showed that 848,000 people changed
their legal residence in February, down 5.7 percent from a year earlier.