SEOUL – South Korea's births logged double-digit growth for a sixth successive month, statistical ministry data showed on Wednesday.

The number of newborn babies mounted 15.6 percent from a year earlier to 23,111 in June, continuing to go up in double figures since January, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics.

It maintained an upward trend for 24 straight months since July 2024.

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For the first six months of 2026, a total of 145,804 babies were born, up 15.4 percent compared to the same period of 2025.

The total fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman is expected to bear during life, gained 0.11 over the year to 0.88 in June, but it stayed far below the replacement rate of 2.1 births per woman to maintain a stable population.

The number of marriages jumped 14.0 percent to 21,075 in the cited month, and the number of divorces advanced 13.5 percent to 7,688.

The number of deaths rose 2.0 percent to 27,794 in June compared to the same month of last year.

Affected by still-low births and high deaths, the natural population decline stood at 4,683 in the month.