According to official figures, South Korea has broken its own record for the lowest fertility rate in the world. According to statistics released by Statistics Korea on Wednesday, the average number of projected births per South Korean woman over her reproductive life decreased to 0.78 in 2022 from 0.81 in 2021. The rate is the lowest among nations in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which averaged 1.59 in 2020, and significantly lower than 1.64 in the United States and 1.33 in Japan.
Seoul, the capital of South Korea, has the lowest birth rate at 0.59. The dropping birth rate has raised fears that a shrinking population might significantly harm South Korea’s economy, the tenth biggest in the world, due to employment shortages and increased welfare spending as the number of elderly people rises and the number of taxpayers declines. The government has spent 210 billion dollars and 280 trillion won over the past 16 years attempting to reverse the decreasing birth rate, but to no avail. In 2018, South Korea’s fertility rate fell below one child per woman, and the country’s population began to decline for the first time in 2021. In the absence of migration, a population must maintain a fertility rate of 2.1 births per woman. Many young South Koreans report that, unlike their parents and grandparents, they do not feel compelled to start a family. They mention the unpredictability of a dreary job market, expensive housing, gender and socioeconomic inequality, little social mobility, and the enormous cost of raising children in a culture that is ruthlessly competitive. Women also complain of a pervasive patriarchal culture that pushes women to care for the majority of children and subject them to workplace discrimination. According to Yonhap, the government of President Yoon Suk-yeol revealed in December a number of steps to combat South Korea’s dropping birth rates, including initiatives to incentivize childbearing and remove employment discrimination against women. It was also said that the government will take initiatives to provide cheap housing and more jobs for young people.
Last year, Statistics Korea reported that there were 249,000 births in the nation, a decrease from the previous year’s total of 260,000. Last year, the average age at which women gave birth increased to 33.5. The death toll rose from 317,680 the previous year to 372,800 in the current year. The population of South Korea peaked at 51.84 million in 2020 and declined to 51.74 million the following year. By 2070, it is projected to decrease to 37.66 million.
