Seoul, Aug 24 (TIWN) South Korea's total fertility rate hit a record low in 2021 as the number of childbirths continued to fall, data revealed on Wednesday, underscoring the country's gloomy demographic situation.

The country's total fertility rate -- the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime -- came to 0.81 child in 2021, down from 0.84 the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea.  It was the lowest since the statistics agency began compiling related data in 1970. Last year also marked the fourth straight year that the number was below 1.  South Korea was the only country where the number of childbirths per women remained below 1 among the 38 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). As of 2020, the total fertility rate among the OECD nations averaged 1.59.