数据显示，韩国的人口危机进一步加深，尽管韩国政府投入数百万亿韩元鼓励家庭多生孩子，韩国生育率（全球最低）2023年仍跌至历史新低。据报道，韩国人口连续第四年减少，2023年韩国新生儿人数为23万，比前一年减少了19200人，下降7.7%。
A woman pushing her baby in a stroller shops in the Hongdae area of Seoul, South Korea, June 29, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]
South Korea’s demographic crisis has deepened with the release of data showing its birthrate – already the world’s lowest – fell to a new record low in 2023, despite billions of dollars in government schemes designed to persuade families to have more children.数据显示，韩国的人口危机进一步加深，尽管韩国政府制定方案投入数十亿美元鼓励家庭多生孩子，韩国生育率（全球最低）2023年仍跌至历史新低。
Reports that South Korea’s population had shrunk for the fourth straight year came soon after neighbouring Japan reported a record decline in its population last year, along with a record fall in the number of births and the lowest number of marriages since the end of the second world war.据报道，韩国人口连续第四年减少，此前不久，邻国日本报告称该国去年人口降幅创历史纪录、出生人数降幅创纪录、结婚人数则降至二战结束以来的最低水平。
The average number of children a South Korean woman has during her lifetime fell to 0.72, from 0.78 in 2022 – a decline of nearly 8% – according to preliminary data from Statistics Korea, a government-affiliated body. The rate is well below the average of 2.1 children the country needs to maintain its current population of 51 million.韩国政府下属机构韩国统计厅的初步数据显示，韩国女性一生中的平均子女数量从2022年的0.78个下降到0.72个，下降了近8%。这一比率远低于该国维持现有5100万人口所需的2.1名儿童的平均水平。
Since 2018, South Korea has been the only member of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) to have a rate below 1. In addition, South Korean women give birth for the first time at the average age of 33.6 – the highest among OECD members.自2018年以来，韩国是经济合作与发展组织（OECD）中唯一一个生育率低于1的成员国。此外，韩国女性首次分娩的平均年龄为33.6岁，在OECD成员国中最高。
If the low fertility rate persists, the population of Asia’s fifth-biggest economy is projected to almost halve to 26.8 million by 2100, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle.根据西雅图华盛顿大学健康指标与评估研究所的数据，如果低生育率持续下去，这个亚洲第五大经济体的人口预计到2100年将几乎减半，只剩下2680万。
Lim Young-il, head of the population census division at Statistics Korea, told reporters: “The number of newborns in 2023 was 230,000, which was 19,200 fewer than the year before, representing a 7.7% decrease.”韩国统计厅人口普查处处长林英一(音译)告诉记者：“2023年韩国新生儿人数为23万，比前一年减少了19200人，下降7.7%。”
Since 2006 the government has invested more than 360tn won ($270bn) in programmes to encourage couples to have more children, including cash subsidies, babysitting services and support for infertility treatment.自2006年以来，政府已在鼓励夫妇生育的项目上投资超过360万亿韩元（约合人民币19404亿元），包括现金补贴、保姆服务和不孕不育治疗支持。
South Korea’s major political parties are showcasing policies to stem population decline ahead of April’s national assembly election, including more public housing and easier loans, in the hope of dampening growing alarm that the country is facing “national extinction”.韩国各主要政党在4月国会选举前提出了遏制人口下降的政策，包括提供更多公共住房和更便捷的贷款，希望以此缓解人们对韩国正面临"民族灭绝"的日益恐慌。
英文来源：卫报
来源：中国日报网