South Korea has the world’s lowest birth rate, highlighting the demographic challenges the country faces, according to CNN.
In 2023, it is only 0.72, down from 0.78 in the previous year, the latest in a long line of annual declines. In order to maintain a stable population in the absence of immigration, the country needs a birth rate of 2.1. The data underscores the demographic time bomb facing South Korea and other East Asian countries as their societies age rapidly just a few decades after rapid industrialisation.
In a televised address, President Yoon Suk Yeol said he would ask for parliament’s cooperation to establish the Ministry of Low Birth Rate Counter-planning, saying his government would “mobilize all of the nation’s capabilities to overcome the low birth rate, which can be considered a national emergency.”
The president acknowledged that his administration has failed in its efforts to improve people’s lives. He promised to use the next three years of his presidential term to improve the economy and address the low birth rate. In 2022, Yoon said that more than $200 billion has been spent on population growth over the past 16 years.
Despite spending on solutions, such as extending paid paternity leave, offering cash “baby vouchers” to young parents and social campaigns encouraging men to participate in childcare and housework, no solution has yet been found.
In Japan, the government has already tried to use a similar scenario to encourage couples to have children but without success, prompting the country’s leader to take urgent measures in recent years. For instance, the creation of the Child and Families Agency to address a range of issues, from improving the health and well-being of children to supporting families and parents, according to its website.
The measures, ranging from expanding childcare services to providing places for children to play and live, aim to address the declining birth rate and create a society where people “feel hopeful about getting married, having children, and raising them,” the website says.
Experts say the causes of this demographic shift in the region include a demanding work culture, stagnant wages, rising cost of living, changing attitudes towards marriage and gender equality, and growing disillusionment among the younger generation. Experts and residents point to some deeper social issues, such as stigmatisation of single parents, discrimination against non-traditional partnerships and barriers for same-sex couples.
