South Korea's record-low birth rate rose in 2024, the country's statistics agency reported on Wednesday, marking the first increase in nine years in a slight respite from a looming demographic crisis.

South Korea's fertility rate rose in 2024 for the first time in nine years, supported by an increase in marriages, preliminary data showed on Wednesday (February 26), in a sign that the country's demographic crisis might have turned a corner.

South Korea’s fertility rate has risen for the first time in nine years, as a surge in marriages after the pandemic spurs hopes that the world’s fastest-ageing society may have turned a corner. The country’s fertility rate — the average number of babies a woman is expected to have in her lifetime — increased from 0.