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

SEOUL, April 28 (Yonhap) -- The number of newborns in South Korea continued to
fall in February from a year earlier as people refrained from having babies amid
an economic downturn, a government report showed Tuesday.
According to the report by the National Statistical Office, the number of
newborns totaled 36,700 in February, down 7.1 percent from a year earlier.
The birth rate has been declining since March 2008 as people have increasingly
tended to delay weddings or have fewer babies if they get married amid a
protracted economic downturn, experts said.
The number of marriages dropped 4.8 percent in February from a year earlier, with
a total of 23,300 couples tying the knot in the cited period.
Divorces also inched down, with 9,800 couples filing for divorce in February,
down 0.4 percent from the same month a year earlier, the report showed.
Meanwhile, population mobility slowed as a slumping economy caused people to hold
back on housing transactions. The report showed that 841,000 people changed their
legal residence in March, down 0.5 percent from a year earlier.
kokobj@yna.co.kr
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