Korea’s birth rate rises for the first time in nine years

good morning. South Korea’s birth rate rose for the first time in almost 10 years. Today’s top stories explain what encouraged the turnaround. Also about the agenda:

Trump’s latest tariff threat

Father and son meeting room battle in Singapore

Anti-Vax’s political rise

South Korea’s birth rate rose for the first time in nine years. The postpartum surge in marriage is because we hope that the world’s fastest society has turned the corner.

The country’s fertility rate (the average number of babies women are expected to be present in their lifetime) increased from 0.72 last year to 0.75, according to the latest data from the National Statistics Bureau.

The rate is well below the 2.1 required to ensure a wide and stable population, the lowest in the world, but this is the first increase since 2015, when it was 1.24.

“There was a shift in social values ​​and there was a more positive view on marriage and childbirth,” said Park Hyun-Jun-gu, an official at the Korean Statistics Bureau, adding that last year’s trends were also driven by an increase in the number of people in their early 30s and delayed the pandemic.

The growing demographic crisis has become a major challenge for South Korean policymakers, who are tackling declining economic growth and increasing pension and healthcare costs for aging populations.

Read more about the unusual baby bumps and momentum can last.

Here is the other thing we keep tabs today:

Economic Data: Japan has released its latest trade statistics, while the US has released revised fourth quarter GDP figures.

EU-India Bond: European Commission’s Ursula von der Leyen will begin a two-day visit to New Delhi. The EU chief plans to ask India to lower car and wine tariffs. (Reuters)

US-UK Relations: Prime Minister Kiel meets President Donald Trump at the White House. The visit comes after US lawmakers raised concerns to the UK about China’s plans to build an embassy in London yesterday.

Five more top stories

1. Donald Trump has raised the prospects of a transatlantic trade war by threatening to slap 25% tariffs on EU imports. In his remarks at the first cabinet meeting of his second term, the US president assaulted the bloc, saying it was “formed to screw the US,” and said tariffs were “in the car and everything else.”

Ukraine Mineral Trade: Trump said the US will not make Ukraine security guarantees “very large” as Washington and Kiev prepare to sign a critical mineral trade on Friday.

“Gold Card”: Trump said if the US pays $5 million under the new scheme, it would provide a route to permanent residency and citizenship to wealthy foreigners.

2. Taiwan opposed what it said was an unpublished, practical naval movement in busy waters near the southwest coast. Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense said the People’s Liberation Army had notified commercial vessels and aircraft yesterday through ad-hoc radio warnings of “fire drills” in training areas from Kaohsiung and neighboring Ping Tung County.

3. The Singapore billionaire is trying to expel his son as chief executive of his family’s real estate company, accusing him of attempting a meeting room coup and poor business decisions. Kwek Leng Beng, executive chair of City Developments, Singapore’s largest listed real estate company, suspends its shares yesterday morning after filing court documents outlining the family feud that has escalated in recent months.

4. Nvidia’s revenues surged into the end of January in the quarter as AI-focused chip sales skyrocketed and exceeded Wall Street expectations. Chief Executive Jensen Fan said demand for the company’s latest generation of Blackwell chips remains strong despite concerns that the progress of Chinese AI startup deepseek could hinder nvidia’s growth.

5. Over $800 million has been wiped out from the global cryptocurrency market in recent weeks as the enthusiasm that swept the crypto industry after Trump’s election victory last year was taken away. The recent famous scandal and the biggest cryptocurrency theft of all time have also shaking confidence in the industry.

Big reading

Vaccine skepticism has long been a fringe phenomenon, and anti-vaxax has been treated as a crank. But now its main supporters are in the political spotlight in ways that could have never been thought of even a few years ago. As traditional political parties around the world struggle to appear relevant, the anti-vaccine movement has become a new anti-establishment political force filling the vacuum.

We’re reading too. . .

The chart of the day

Millions of Chinese families are struggling with “devastating health spending.” This is medical expenses that have destroyed household finances. Many experts argue that such expensive bills are disastrous for families’ finances, but also harm the wider economy.

Take a break from the news. . .

As the FT Edit team offers pessimistic predictions for the next year, we have compiled a list of eight things to look forward to in 2025, including the glory of the sport, vaccine advancements, and once-in-a-lifetime planet alignment this Friday.