Newborn babies are sleeping in cradles at a hospital in Seoul in this undated photo. Yonhap

The number of babies born in Korea hit a record low in the second quarter, while deaths rose to an all-time high in the cited period amid rapid aging and the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Wednesday.

A total of 59,961 babies were born in the April-June period, down 9.3 percent from the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. It marked the lowest number for any second quarter since the statistics agency started compiling related data in 1981.

Korea has faced a chronic decline in childbirths as many young people delay or give up on getting married or having babies in the face of an economic slowdown and high home prices, combined with changing social norms about marriage.

The country's total fertility rate ― the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime ― came to 0.75 child in the second quarter, down from 0.82 from a year ago. It marked the lowest for any second quarter.