South Korea Total Fertility Rate
South Korea's total fertility rate was 0.80 in 2025, up 0.05 from 2024. The record low was 0.72 in 2023. By province, Seoul was lowest (0.63) and South Jeolla highest (1.09).
1993–2025
Data table
| Year | Total Fertility Rate |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 0.80 |
| 2024 | 0.75 |
| 2023 | 0.72 |
| 2022 | 0.78 |
| 2021 | 0.81 |
| 2020 | 0.84 |
| 2019 | 0.92 |
| 2018 | 0.98 |
| 2017 | 1.05 |
| 2016 | 1.17 |
| 2015 | 1.24 |
| 2014 | 1.21 |
| 2013 | 1.19 |
| 2012 | 1.30 |
| 2011 | 1.24 |
| 2010 | 1.23 |
| 2009 | 1.15 |
| 2008 | 1.19 |
| 2007 | 1.26 |
| 2006 | 1.13 |
| 2005 | 1.08 |
| 2004 | 1.16 |
| 2003 | 1.19 |
| 2002 | 1.18 |
| 2001 | 1.31 |
| 2000 | 1.48 |
| 1999 | 1.43 |
| 1998 | 1.46 |
| 1997 | 1.54 |
| 1996 | 1.57 |
| 1995 | 1.63 |
| 1994 | 1.66 |
| 1993 | 1.65 |
By province, 2025
Data table
| Province | Total Fertility Rate |
|---|---|
| South Jeolla | 1.09 |
| Sejong | 1.06 |
| North Chungcheong | 0.96 |
| North Gyeongsang | 0.93 |
| South Chungcheong | 0.92 |
| Ulsan | 0.92 |
| Gangwon | 0.91 |
| South Gyeongsang | 0.88 |
| Jeju | 0.87 |
| Jeonbuk | 0.85 |
| Gyeonggi | 0.84 |
| Daejeon | 0.83 |
| Incheon | 0.82 |
| Daegu | 0.81 |
| Gwangju | 0.76 |
| Busan | 0.74 |
| Seoul | 0.63 |
Context
The total fertility rate is the average number of children a woman would have over her lifetime if current age-specific birth rates held. A rate of about 2.1 is needed for a population to replace itself without migration.
South Korea has not been at replacement level since the early 1980s. After hovering between 1.1 and 1.3 through the 2000s and early 2010s, the rate fell every year from 2016 and dropped below 1.0 in 2018 — making South Korea the only OECD country below that line. It bottomed out at 0.72 in 2023.
2024 brought the first increase in nine years, and 2025 a second. The rebound follows a rise in marriages after the pandemic and a larger cohort born in the early 1990s reaching their early thirties, the peak age for first births. Even so, the rate remains far below replacement: a generation of parents is being replaced by one about 60% smaller.