SEOUL -- South Korea fell below the key fertility threshold of one child per woman last year for the first time on record, the national statistics office said Wednesday, as births plummeted to an all-time recorded low.
The total fertility rate, measuring how many children the average woman would have in her lifetime, fell by 0.08 on the year to 0.98 births, the lowest reading in data reaching back to 1970, Statistics Korea said.
