The number of babies born in Korea rose 15.6 percent in June from a year earlier, marking the 24th consecutive month of on-year growth, government data showed Wednesday. A total of 23,111 babies were born in June, up 3,115 from 19,996 a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics. The growth rate was the highest since the government began compiling relevant data in 1981. The increase in absolute terms was also the largest since 1992, when the figure rose by 3,666. The country's total fertility rate, the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime, rose 0.11 point from a year earlier to 0.88 in June. The fertility rate remains well below the 2.1 births per woman needed to maintain a stable population without immigration. The number of births has maintained an upward trend since July 2024. Experts attribute the recent growth to an increase in the number of marriages, coupled with increasingly positive perceptions of having children. "The increase in births came as the number of marriages has been recovering since May 2023 following the end of the