The proportion of babies born to multicultural families out of all childbirths in South Korea reached an all-time high in 2019 due to the country‘s low birthrate, government data showed.

The number of babies born to multicultural married couples came to 17,939 last year, down 0.8 percent from a year earlier and accounting for 5.9 percent of total newborns in the country, according to the data from Statistics Korea.

The number decreased for seven years running last year after peaking at 22,908 in 2012. Yet, the ratio was up 0.4 percentage point from a year earlier and the largest since the agency started tracking related data in 2008. (Yonhap)