South Korea’s birthrate rises again – thanks to ‘echo boomers’

File. A man holding a mobile phone stands on a street as a woman and child cross a road in Seoul on 20 September 2019 - (AFP via Getty)

South Korea has recorded the biggest rise in births in nearly two decades, offering a rare moment of relief in a country long seen as facing a demographic crisis.

Last year, 254,500 babies were born, up 6.8 per cent from the previous year and the largest annual increase since 2007, according to provisional figures released by the ministry of data and statistics on Wednesday.