Ten of South Korea's 17 cities and provinces witnessed a drop in their population last year amid the country's chronic low birthrate and rapid aging.

According to Statistics Korea on Sunday, in the first eleven months of last year, the cumulative number of newborns came to 253-thousand-788, while the number of deaths totaled 278-thousand-187, indicating the population has naturally declined.

Ten of the country's 17 cities and provinces saw their population decline last year, a sharp increase from two in 2015.

North Gyeongsang Province suffered the largest decline of nearly 88-hundred last year in its population, followed by Busan whose population shrank by about seven thousand.

In contrast, the population in Seoul and its surrounding areas of Gyeonggi Province and Incheon all increased, with Gyeonggi posting the largest growth of over 15-thousand.