The number of people changing their place of residence sank 13 percent in April from a year earlier, the state statistics agency said Thursday, amid a protracted economic slump and soaring housing prices.

The number of people changing their residences came to some 564,000 last month, down 85,000 from the same month a year earlier, according to data provided by Statistics Korea.


The population mobility rate -- the number of those changing their residence for every 100 people -- edged down 0.18 percentage points to 1.1 percent over the cited period.

The statistics office said a slowdown in home purchases and an economic slowdown were behind the drop in population mobility.

The number of housing purchases dropped 28.4 percent on-year last month, earlier government data showed.

Seoul, the country's capital with a population of more than 10 million, saw a net 10,658 residents move out, with its population at 9.83 million as of last month, including foreign residents.

The capital city has posted negative monthly growth in net population mobility since March 2009 as an increasing number of people leave the city for cheaper housing.

Meanwhile, childbirths dropped 5.2 percent on-year to reach

38,200 in March, with the number of babies born in the first quarter tallied at 112,600, down 4.5 percent from a year earlier, the data showed.

The number of deaths came to 25,300 in March, down 1,200 from a year earlier, the statistics agency said. (Yonhap)