The Incheon Metropolitan City government said on Aug. 28 Incheon saw its birth rate growth top among all cities across the nation in the first half of the year.
Population trends, released by Statistics Korea in June 2025, showed that Incheon saw births surge 12.1 percent year-on-year during the period between January and June, registering the highest growth rate among 17 cities and provinces across the nation.
The growth rate is 1.6-fold more than the nation’s average rate of 7.4 percent, a sharp contrast in comparison over other major cities in the Seoul metropolitan area.
Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok said, “The rise in births is not a short-term transient performance, but it takes on significance since policies have turned out to be successful,” he said.
“We will upgrade Incheon-type policy models to effectively reduce birth and child care burden and establish Incheon as the nation’s first city to overcome low-birth.”
As the central government tries to explore new national strategies to overcome low-birth, Incheon has been highlighted as an “exemplary city,” going beyond an “experimental city.” Incheon saw its birth rate begin to rise in May 2024.
It maintained double-digit growth since last October, and marriages stood at 5,657 in the first five months of this year, a 2.3 percent more than the same period last year, showing an outstanding growth mode in terms of birth and marriage.
The growth in births and marriages may be owed to the city government’s policies encompassing the whole cycle of life, ranging from marriage to birth and child care, which contributes to improving citizens’ lives, experts said.
Starting with Incheon’s representative countermeasure against low birth, dubbed “i+100 million won Dream,” Incheon City has implemented a combined six projects, including “i+Home Dream.”
The projects are evaluated to serve as a core driving force to raise a birth rate.
The i+100 million won Dream program calls for offering a support worth 100 million won to each of children born in Incheon ranging from infants to 18-year-old teenagers.
This year, some 18,000 pregnant women have been given transportation support money, some 10,000 people have been offered “angel support money” and 21,000 people have been paid “child dream allowance.”
The municipal government launched a program to offer postpartum care expenses to pregnant women this past February. Until now, 1,100 women have benefited from the program.
Under the “i+Home Dream” program, beneficiaries have begun to move into houses.
The “i+Match Dream” program has received the good reception while the “i+Care Dream” program for creating an environment for stable care has been inaugurated.
Incheon City, Sole Metropolitan City Govt to be Honored with Presidential Award in Recognition for Implementing Policies on Low-Birth
The Incheon Metropolitan City government became the sole metropolitan city government among local governments across the nation in recognition for coping with population issues at a ceremony to celebrate the 14th anniversary of Population Day on July 13.
Population Day awards are presented to individuals, entities and organizations, which have informed the importance of demographic changes, such as low-birth and aging, and contributed to spreading population policies.
Incheon City has received the honor since the municipal government has been highly evaluated for innovative population policies to take preemptive steps to cope with a crisis of a super low birth rate.
The municipal government aggressively addressed demographic changes by implementing policies tailored to meet needs encompassing the whole cycle of life, ranging from Incheon-type low-birth policies to ones related to youth’s meeting, marriage, birth and child care.
These policies have paid off: They have led to a rise in population. According to the Incheon Metropolitan City government, the population registered in Incheon as of June 2025 stood at 3,039,450, an increase of 2,401 over the previous month.
Incheon saw its population rise the most among seven metropolitan cities amid continued population decline across the nation.
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