[Monitor] Korea's fertility rate drops to 7-year low

South Korea’s fertility rate fell to a seven-year low last year, data by Statistics Korea showed.

The total fertility rate, or the average number of babies that a woman is projected to have during her lifetime, reached 1.17 in 2016, down from 1.24 a year earlier.

The number of newborns also declined 7.3 percent to a record-breaking low of 406,200 last year.

The average age that a woman had her first child was 31.4 last year.

To tackle the low birthrate that would hurt the country’s economy by reducing workforce and raising welfare costs, the government has been spewing out a series of measures such as cash incentives.

But Korea continues to have the lowest fertility rate among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries.