Seoul, Dec 3 : South Korea is set to report negative economic growth in 2050 if the country fails to reverse its accelerating birth-rate decline, the central bank said on Sunday.

The country's total fertility rate -- the number of children, on average, that a woman aged 15-49 has during her lifetime -- plunged to 0.81, the lowest level among the 35 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries in 2021, according to a report released by the Bank of Korea (BOK).

Among 217 countries and regions, including the OECD member nations, Korea marked the second-lowest birth rate after Hong Kong with 0.77, the BOK report said.