South Korea’s Birth Rate at Record Low

South Korea’s birth rates hit record lows this year, with only seven newborn babies per one thousand people.

South Korean mothers practice massaging their babies during a training program at a public health center in Seoul in this file photo. Kim Jae-Hwan/AFP/Getty Images

SEOUL—With a low salary and high expenses, 34-year-old Sung-Jin Kim once thought he would never get married.

“I had given up on marriage and was going to live life on my own. If things weren’t like that, I wouldn’t have given up on marriage,” said Kim Sung-Jin, a resident of Suwon, just south of Seoul.