Seoul, long the region with South Korea's lowest fertility rate, is seeing a marked pickup in births. After falling in 2023, the number of babies born in the capital turned higher in 2024, widened its gain last year and posted the highest growth rate among the country's 17 metropolitan cities and provinces in the first half of this year. Marriages have also risen since 2023, making clearer a pattern in which more weddings translate into more births after a lag.
A total of 26,924 babies were born in Seoul between January and June, up 18.7% from a year earlier, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the National Data Office on the 27th. Marriages over the same period came to 26,840, a 10.9% increase from a year earlier. Both growth rates were the highest among the 17 regions.
Births are rebounding nationwide, but Seoul's recovery is relatively fast. The national birth count turned higher in 2024 and continued rising last year. Seoul's birth growth rate of 9.4% last year was the highest in the country, and the gain widened further in the first half of this year. The total fertility rate also climbed for a second straight year, from a record low of 0.55 in 2023 to 0.58 in 2024 and 0.63 last year. It remains the lowest in the country, but the pace of improvement in birth-related indicators has drawn attention.
The rise in births is attributed to a recovery in marriages. Marriages in Seoul had declined through 2022 before turning higher in 2023, with the increase widening thereafter. Births followed a year later, turning higher from 2024. "Nationwide, marriages that had been postponed after COVID-19 have increased, and along with growth in the population of women in their 30s, the main childbearing age group, and changing attitudes toward marriage and childbirth, these factors appear to have combined to drive the recent rise in births," a Seoul city official said.
The city has also expanded policies to ease the financial burden at each stage from marriage to housing and pregnancy and childbirth. At the marriage stage, it runs a program called "A More Beautiful Wedding" that opens public spaces such as parks and hanok traditional houses as wedding venues, and provides newlyweds with up to 1 million won for wedding and household setup costs. Mirinae House, a long-term public rental housing program aimed at easing housing costs for newlyweds, had supplied 7,108 units as of August this year.
Support for pregnancy and childbirth has also grown. Since 2023, the city has phased out income requirements and per-procedure caps on subsidies for fertility treatment, covering about 210,000 cases through July this year. Transportation subsidies for expectant mothers reached about 210,000 recipients, and the Seoul-style postpartum care subsidy, which supports mothers' recovery after childbirth, went to about 120,000 people. From March this year, the city raised payments for second and subsequent children, strengthening support for families with multiple children.
Residents' attitudes toward childbirth and child-rearing are also shifting. In a Seoul Institute survey, parents' rating of Seoul as a good city to have and raise children rose from 3.50 points in 2023 to 3.58 in 2024 and 3.66 last year. The share of couples without children who said they intended to have a child within three years rose to 79.4% last year from 68.5% in 2024, while the share among couples with children rose to 39.9% from 30.3%.
The city plans to broaden the scope of its policy support to sustain the recent rebound in births over the longer term. Support that had focused on pregnancy and childbirth will be extended to child-rearing, children's development and family support, with an emphasis on easing structural burdens such as housing and care that shape decisions about marriage and having children.
"With births and marriages rising together, Seoul's birth rebound is becoming clearer," said Ma Chae-sook, head of the Seoul city government's Women and Family Affairs Office. "To keep this trend going, we will strengthen child-rearing and family support and build a comprehensive system for responding to low birth rates."
