The nation’s total fertility rate slipped to a record low last year as the average number of children born to a woman in her lifetime fell to zero-point-78.

According to data from Statistics Korea on Wednesday, the total fertility rate slipped zero-point-03 from 2021 to hit the lowest point since related statistics began to be compiled in 1970.

As of 2020, South Korea is the only country with a total fertility rate below one among the 38 member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD) with a collective average of one-point-59, having remained last since 2013.

The statistics agency also found that a total of 249-thousand babies were born last year, down four-point-four percent from 2021, half of the number in 2002 and around one-third of the total 30 years ago.