South Korean marriages increased the most on record in a hopeful sign for a nation that has been ramping up efforts to boost the world’s lowest fertility rate behind growing economic pessimism.

More than 222,000 couples tied the knot in 2024 in a 14.8 percent jump from a year earlier, marking an acceleration from a 1percent rise a year earlier, according to data released Thursday from the national statistics office. That’s the biggest increase in data going back to 1990.

The figure comes a month after South Korea reported its fertility rate increased for the first time in nine years in 2024. The rise in fertility and marriages may be led by people born in the early 1990s, a period when the nation saw a bump in the number of births, and by couples who postponed weddings during the pandemic.

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Years of spending by the government to encourage more people to get married may have also contributed. Supportive schemes have included greater compensation for parental leaves and a reduction in mortgage interest-rates for families that have newborns. Seoul, the nation’s capital, came up with plans to offer financial support to residents seeking to reverse vasectomies or tubectomies.

A dearth of babies is a major cause of aging in South Korea, generating concerns about the growing fiscal burdens of public pensions and health care. Its shrinking workforce also adds to challenges with fewer people able to help drive innovation in a country that faces mounting competition from China and other emerging rivals in everything from manufacturing to technology.

The number of babies expected per woman in a lifetime stands at 0.75 as of last year, which is the world’s lowest even though it picked up from 0.72 in 2023. Among major cities, Seoul had the lowest fertility rate at 0.58.

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Several factors have been blamed for the reluctance among South Koreans to have babies, including high costs of living and a paucity of affordable housing. Parents also fear unfavorable consequences after returning to offices from childcare leave. They also face expenses for education that proportionately rank among the highest in the developed world.

The link between marriages and births remains strong in South Korea where births out of wedlock are uncommon. The age at which men get married for the first time stood at 33.9 while it was 31.6 for women last year, the data said. Demographic research indicates the earlier a couple gets married, the more likely they are to have multiple children.