The Ministry of Interior and Safety reported Friday that the number of registered births totaled 242,334 in 2024, a 3.1 percent increase from the previous year.
Male births outnumbered female births, with 123,923 boys and 118,411 girls registered.
Despite the uptick in births, the country's population continued to shrink as deaths exceeded births by 118,423, though this gap narrowed slightly from 2023's 118,881.
The total registered population fell to 51.22 million, marking the fifth consecutive year of decline since 2020. Women outnumbered men by 220,573, with the gender gap steadily widening since women first surpassed men in 2015.
The data highlighted South Korea's aging demographic, with the average age reaching 45.3 years. People in their 50s constituted the largest age group at 17 percent of the population, followed by those in their 60s at 15.27 percent.
The elderly population aged 65 and above grew by 5.41 percent to 10.26 million, while the working-age population, aged 15 to 64, decreased by 1.21 percent to 35.50 million. Meanwhile, the youth population under 15 declined by 3.52 percent to 5.46 million.
"While we've seen five consecutive years of population decline, this first rise in births signals a potentially positive shift," Deputy Minister of Interior and Safety Kim Min-jae said.
He added that the government would strengthen childcare support to maintain the momentum.
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