The number of households with children under 18 years old fell below 5 million for the first time in 2019, amid a chronically low birthrate, data showed.

The number of households with children under 18 came to 4.87 million in 2019, down from 5.04 million the previous year, according to data compiled by Statistics Korea.

Such households made up 23.3 percent of the total 20.9 million households in 2019, down 1.3 percentage points from 2018, the data showed.

As of Nov. 1, 2019, the number of people below 18 reached 7.82 million, down from 8.07 million the previous year. That accounted for 15.1 percent of the total population of 51.8 million in 2019. (Yonhap)