SEOUL, Oct. 25 (Yonhap) -- The number of babies born in South Korea grew for the 18th straight month in August amid the government's efforts to boost the nation's relatively low birthrate, a report showed Tuesday.

According to the report by Statistics Korea, the number of babies born in August came to some 39,700, up 3.4 percent, or 1,300, from the same month a year earlier.

The number of births has been on the rise since March last year after posting a 24-month consecutive decline, the report showed.

During the same month, the report showed that the number of deaths came to 20,800, up 1.5 percent, or 300, from a year earlier.

About 26,900 couples tied the knot in August, up 2.7 percent from a year earlier, while divorces stayed almost unchanged from a year earlier to 9,700, according to the report.

Meanwhile, in a separate report, the agency said that the number of people changing their legal residence in September grew 7.5 percent on-year to 594,000.