The number of newborns and total fertility rate in the country plunged to a record level last year amid growing concerns over Korea’s chronic low births, population decline and aging society.

According to Statistics Korea on Wednesday, 230-thousand babies were born in 2023, down seven-point-seven percent from a year earlier.

The crude birth rate, or the annual number of live births per one-thousand population, dropped from four-point-nine in 2022 to four-point-five.

The total fertility rate, the number of children that would be born to a woman in her lifetime, fell to all-time lows of zero-point-65 in the fourth quarter last year and zero-point-72 for all of 2023.

The average age of women who had given birth rose zero-point-one on-year to 33-point-six years, with mothers aged 35 or older taking up 36-point-three percent of the total.

Meanwhile, the number of deaths last year fell five-point-four percent to 352-thousand-700, with the population naturally decreasing 122-thousand-800, marking the fourth straight year of decline.