The number of babies born in South Korea grew at the fastest pace in nearly two years in September amid government efforts to boost the country’s chronically low birthrate, a government report showed Monday.

Babies born in September came to some 41,700, up 6.9 percent or 2,700 from the same month a year earlier, according to the report by Statistics Korea.

The percentage growth was the largest since childbirths increased 10.8 percent on-year in January 2011, the report showed.

The latest childbirth report comes as South Korea is pushing to raise its chronically low birthrate, which along with its aging population is feared to undercut its growth potential.

South Korea’s fertility rate was 1.24 as of 2011, which is markedly lower than in other major industrialized countries. The figure for the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development stood at 1.74 in 2010.

The agency explained that the September childbirth data do not necessarily indicate a change in the overall trend, but it can be influenced by an uptick in the number of people getting married over the past few years.

The report, however, showed that the number of people getting married in September declined 10 percent or 2,100 from a year earlier to come to 19,000. This followed a 9.3 percent on-year fall in August.

The number of divorces also shrank 9 percent on-year to 9,100, while deaths stood at 20,300, almost unchanged from what was tallied for the previous month, the report showed.

In a separate report, the agency said the number of people changing their official residence in October declined 1.5 percent on-year to about 640,000. The drop is attributable to sluggish transactions in the housing market. (Yonhap News)