SEOUL - South Korea's births kept falling for the 89th straight month in April, boosting concerns about a demographic cliff, statistical office data showed Wednesday.

The number of newborn babies was 18,484 in April, down 12.7 percent from the same month of last year, according to Statistics Korea. It marked the lowest April figure since relevant data began to be compiled in 1981.

The newborns in South Korea have been on the decline since December 2015 as more young people delayed or gave up on having children due to economic difficulties such as high housing prices and education costs

The newborns have been on the decline since December 2015 as more young people delayed or gave up on having children due to economic difficulties such as high housing prices and education costs.

The low birth rate fueled worry about the demographic cliff, which refers to a sharp fall in the heads of households eventually leading to a consumption cliff.

The number of marriages decreased 8.4 percent from a year earlier to 14,475 in April. The number of deaths tumbled 24.8 percent to 27,581 due to the weakened pandemic effect.

READ MORE: S. Korea to curb soaring private education

Affected by the still-high deaths and the births slide, the country's population kept skidding for the 42nd successive month since November 2019.