The number of newborns last November plunged below 18-thousand to set a new record low for the month.

According to Statistics Korea on Wednesday, 17-thousand-531 babies were born in November 2023, down seven-point-six percent from a year earlier to log the lowest tally for the calendar month since the state agency began compiling related data in 1981.

The cumulative tally for 2023 likewise fell to an all-time low of 213-thousand-572, down eight-point-one percent from the previous year.

The crude birth rate, the annual number of live births per one-thousand people, fell zero-point-three on-year to four-point-two.

Meanwhile, the number of deaths last November rose zero-point-three percent on-year to an all-time high for the month of 30-thousand-255, with the state agency citing the aging society and the continued effects of COVID-19.

With deaths outnumbering births in November, the population naturally declined by 12-thousand-724, continuing a 49-month streak of decline since November 2019.