About 30 percent of the nation's daycare centers and kindergartens are expected to disappear in four years as the record-low birthrate trend continues.

According to a report by the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education on Tuesday, the number of daycare centers across the nation plunged 21 percent from 39-thousand in 2018 to 30-thousand-900 in 2022.

The number of kindergartens, meanwhile, slipped five-point-one-percent during the period from about nine-thousand to about 85-hundred.

The report predicted a steeper drop in the coming years due to the declining birthrate, projecting the combined number of childcare centers and kindergartens to drop from over 39-thousand in 2022 to 26-thousand-637 in 2028.

The estimate predicts that some 12-thousand-400, or 31-point-eight percent, of those facilities will close in just six years.

The expected drop was larger in major cities, with Busan projected to see a fall of 39-point-four percent, followed by Seoul and Daegu with 37-point-three percent each and Incheon at 34 percent.