S. Korean birthrate lower in more populous areas: report

SEOUL, Dec. 21 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's metropolitan areas are showing lower
birthrates compared with outlying regions because fewer city dwellers are getting
married and married urban women are less willing to have more than one child, a
report said Monday.
Many districts in Seoul, the most populous city in South Korea, recorded high
ratios of households with only one child in 2007, said Statistics Korea
researcher Park Young-sil in the report released by the Population Association of
Korea.
According to the report, that year 64.1 percent and 62.4 percent of families in
Seoul's southern Gangnam and Seocho wards, respectively, had only one child --
the highest ratios in the country.
Jung Ward in Daegu, the nation's fourth largest city, ranked third with 62.1
percent.
In 2005, the affluent Gangnam ward also had the lowest ratio of married couples
nationwide, with 21 percent among people aged 35 to 39, followed by Daegu's Jung
Ward with 20.8 percent.
In 2007, Seoul's Gangnam Ward, had a fertility rate of just 0.85, the lowest in
the country. Jung Ward of Busan, the second largest city, followed with 0.84. The
rates were much lower than the national average of 1.26 in that year.
The fertility rate is the average number of babies that a woman aged 15-49 gives
birth to during her lifetime.
South Korea's current fertility rate is 1.22, the second lowest among 185
countries surveyed in a 2009 report released by the U.N. Population Fund.
yerankim@yna.co.kr
(END)