{"id":5043,"date":"2024-02-29T17:28:04","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T09:28:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=5043"},"modified":"2024-02-29T17:29:12","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T09:29:12","slug":"in-south-korea-worlds-lowest-fertility-rate-plunges-again-in-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=5043","title":{"rendered":"In South Korea, world\u2019s lowest fertility rate plunges again in 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Record-low births were also reported this week in Japan, as women worried about their careers and finances decide to delay childbirth or not have babies at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\uff08Being married is seen as a prerequisite to having children in South Korea, but marriages are also declining in the country.\uff09<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEOUL, South Korea \u2014 South Korea\u2019s fertility rate, already the world\u2019s lowest, continued its dramatic decline in 2023, as women concerned about their career advancement and the financial cost of raising children decided to delay childbirth or not have babies at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The average number of expected babies for a South Korean woman during her reproductive life fell to a record low of 0.72 from 0.78 in 2022, data from Statistics Korea showed Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is far below the rate of 2.1 per woman needed for a steady population and well behind the rate of 1.24 in 2015, when concerns about issues such as the cost of housing and education were lower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2018, South Korea has been the only Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member with a rate below 1, defying the billions of dollars spent by the country to try to reverse the trend that led the population to decline for a fourth straight year in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Korea also has the worst gender pay gap in the OECD, as Korean women bring home about two-thirds of the income that men do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWomen typically can\u2019t build on their experience to climb higher at workplaces because they are often … the only one doing the child care (and) often need to rejoin the work force after extended leaves,\u201d said Jung Jae-hoon, a professor at Seoul Women\u2019s University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving a baby is on my list, but there\u2019s windows for promotions and I don\u2019t want to be passed over,\u201d said Gwak Tae-hee, 34, a junior manager at a Korean dairy product maker who has been married for three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gwak had considered starting in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment last year to try to have a baby, but ended up volunteering for work projects to improve her career prospects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know about elsewhere, but working two or three days a week doesn\u2019t get you anywhere in Korean companies. I hope it\u2019s not too late when I try next year or the year after,\u201d Gwak said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Korea\u2019s demographic crisis has become the top risk to economic growth and the social welfare system, with the country\u2019s population of 51 million on track to halve by the end of this century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Korea has previously projected its fertility rate is likely to fall further to 0.68 in 2024. The capital, Seoul, which has the country\u2019s highest housing costs, had the lowest fertility rate of 0.55 last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahead of elections in April, South Korea\u2019s major political parties have vowed more public housing and easier loans to encourage childbirth, aiming to allay fears of \u201cnational extinction\u201d as fertility rates crumble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being married is seen as a prerequisite to having children in South Korea, but marriages are also declining in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are people who don\u2019t get married but we think about why married couples choose not to have babies, and my understanding is that addressing that part is going to be the focus of our policies (to boost the birth rate),\u201d an official at Statistics Korea told a briefing, without elaborating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The parties\u2019 focus on population in their election planks reflects growing alarm after spending of more than 360 trillion won ($270 billion) in areas such as child care subsidies since 2006 has failed to reverse record-low fertility rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Korea is not alone in the region struggling with a rapidly aging population. Neighboring Japan said Tuesday that the number of babies born in 2023 fell for an eighth straight year to a fresh record low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Japan\u2019s fertility rate hit a record low of 1.26 in 2022, while China recorded 1.09, also a record low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of births in Japan fell 5.1% from a year earlier to 758,631, while the number of marriages slid 5.9%, to 489,281 \u2014 the first time in 90 years the number fell below 500,000 \u2014 foreboding a further decline in the population as out-of-wedlock births are also rare in Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked about the latest data, Japan\u2019s top government spokesperson said the government will take \u201cunprecedented steps\u201d to cope with the declining birthrate, such as expanding child care and promoting wage increases for younger workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe declining birthrate is in a critical situation,\u201d Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters. \u201cThe next six years or so until 2030, when the number of young people will rapidly decline, will be the last chance to reverse the trend.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Record-low births were also reported this week in Japan, as women worried about their careers and finances decide to delay childbirth or not have babies at all. \uff08Being married is seen as a prerequisite to having children in South Korea, but marriages are also declining in the country.\uff09 SEOUL, South Korea \u2014 South Korea\u2019s fertility […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5044,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international"],"yoast_head":"\nIn South Korea, world\u2019s lowest fertility rate plunges again in 2023 - LISTEN WORLD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=5043\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In South Korea, world\u2019s lowest fertility rate plunges again in 2023 - 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