People look around newborn products at the '2024 Seoul Hi Baby Fair' held at SETEC in Gangnam District, Seoul, Oct. 18. Yonhap

The number of babies born in Korea increased by the fastest rate in 14 years in October, data showed Thursday, as the country is struggling to address the grim demographic changes posed by its ultra-low birth rate and rapid aging.

A total of 21,398 babies were born in October, up 13.4 percent from the 18,878 newborns a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.

It marked the largest on-year increase since November 2010, when the number of childbirths grew by 17.5 percent.

"More couples held weddings from the second half of 2022 through the first half of 2023 after delaying their marriages during the earlier stages of the COVID-19 pandemic," said Im Young-il, an agency official. He also noted an increase in the number of second children.

Korea has been grappling with a persistent decline in its birthrate, as an increasing number of young people are choosing to delay or avoid marriage and parenthood. To encourage marriage and improve the fertility rate, the government has rolled out various marriage benefits and support for child care.

The number of deaths, meanwhile, shed 3.2 percent on-year to 29,819 in October.

Accordingly, Korea reported a natural population decrease of 8,421 in the month.

The number of deaths has continued to exceed the number of newborns since the fourth quarter of 2019.

The report also showed that the number of couples getting married soared 22.3 percent on-year to 19,551 in October, marking the highest on-year increase in history.

The number of couples getting divorced decreased 7.8 percent on-year to 7,300, the data added. (Yonhap)