(Bloomberg) -- South Korea’s fertility rate, the world’s lowest for years, has fallen again, aggravating the challenges of aging demographics for the economy.
（彭博社）——韩国的生育率，多年来一直是全球最低，今年再次下降，加剧了经济面临的老龄化人口挑战。
The number of babies expected per woman fell to 0.78 last year, according to data released by the statistics office on Wednesday. At 0.81 in 2021, it was already the lowest among more than 260 nations tracked by the World Bank.
根据统计局于周三发布的数据，去年每位女性的预期生育数量降至0.78个。而在2021年，该数字已经是世界银行跟踪的260多个国家中最低的0.81了。
A shrinking workforce is a major cause of Korea’s declining potential growth rate. The working-age population peaked at 37.3 million in 2020 and is set to fall by almost half by 2070, according to Statistics Korea.
劳动力萎缩是潜在增长率下降的主要原因。根据韩国统计局的数据，韩国的劳动年龄人口在2020年达到3730万的峰值，到2070年将减少近一半。
The number of newborns declined last year to 249,000 from 260,600 a year earlier, the statistics office said. That’s less than 5% of the population. In contrast, about 373,000 people died last year, extending what one policymaker called a “death cross.”
去年新生儿数量从前一年的26.06万下降到了24.9万，统计局表示，这不到总人口的5%。与此形成对比，去年约有37.3万人死亡，达到了一名政策制定者所称的“死亡交叉点”。
Korea has the world’s fastest-shrinking population among economies with per capita gross domestic product of at least $30,000, according to United Nations projections and World Bank data. By 2100, the number of people is projected to fall by 53% to 24 million.
根据联合国的预测和世界银行的数据，在人均国内生产总值至少为3万美元的经济体中，韩国是人口减少最快的国家。到2100年，人口预计将下降53%至2400万人。