Echo boomers help lift South Korea's birth rate.

South Korea's fertility rate rose to 0.80 in 2025, and the year’s increase in births was largely driven by women aged 30–34 often called "echo boomers."

South Korea's birth rate rose for a second consecutive year in 2025, according to preliminary national statistics. The fertility rate increased to 0.80 and officials recorded 254,000 births, the largest year-on-year rise since 2010. Much of the change was concentrated among women aged 30 to 34, a cohort often referred to in Korea as "echo boomers." The shift is being discussed because many countries now report fertility below the replacement level. Key facts: - The fertility rate was reported at 0.80 in 2025, up from 0.75 in 2024 and 0.72 in 2023. - South Korea recorded 254,000 births in 2025, the largest year-on-year increase since 2010. - Women aged 30–34 had 73.2 births per 1,000 women, compared with 21.3 births per 1,000 women among those in their late 20s. - The country recorded 363,400 deaths in 2025, which is 108,900 more than births. - Analysts and officials reported uncertainty about how much the rise is a result of expanded pronatalist spending, child-care subsidies and preferential mortgage measures, and noted that an increase in marriages over recent years provides a foundation for the change. Summary: The reported rise provides a modest easing in a long-term demographic decline, but South Korea remains well below the replacement fertility level and deaths exceeded births by a substantial margin. Whether the trend continues depends on demographic structure and ongoing social changes, and that outcome is undetermined at this time.