The number of babies born in South Korea posted on-year growth for the month of January for the first time in ten years. 

According to Statistics Korea on Wednesday, 23-thousand-947 babies were born in January, up eleven-point-six percent from the same month last year. 

The last time the figure for January posted on-year growth was in 2015, and this year’s increase is the sharpest on record since the country began compiling statistics on the matter in 1981.

Since September, births during each month have shown higher growth than in the same months the previous year. 

With more babies being born, the nation’s total fertility rate, or the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime, grew from zero-point-80 to zero-point-88.

The number of deaths also saw the highest rise since 1981, surging 21-point-nine percent on-year to 39-thousand-473 in January.