With Korea’s total fertility rate last year at 0.78, the lowest ever, foreign media also paid attention to Korea’s low birth rate.
On the 22nd, Bloomberg News reported the announcement of the National Statistical Office of Korea on the same day in an article titled ‘Korea breaks its own record for the world’s lowest fertility rate’, saying, “Korea’s population is shrinking because more people die than are born.”
According to the “Interim Results of Birth and Death Statistics in 2022” and “December 2022 Population Trends” published by the National Statistical Office on the same day, the total fertility rate last year was 0.78, down 0.03 from the previous year, the lowest since statistics were compiled in 1970.
Since 2013, South Korea has been recording the last place in the total fertility rate among OECD member countries, and this time, it has not been able to escape the bottom. Japan, where the population is aging rapidly, has a total fertility rate of 1.3 in 2021, far higher than Korea.
Bloomberg reported, “As South Korea’s birth rate declines again, the economic problem of population aging is aggravating.”
“Welfare spending for the aging population drains the national finances, and the decline in the labor force is the main cause of Korea’s decline in potential growth rate,” he said.
The National Statistical Office predicts that Korea’s working age population will peak at 37.3 million in 2020 and then decline by almost half in 2070.
In particular, the number of deaths last year was 343,000, compared to 249,000 newborns last year. It has entered a full-fledged demographic decline.
According to data from the United Nations and the World Bank (WB), South Korea’s population is declining the fastest among countries with a GDP per capita of over $30,000 (approximately 39 million won). By 2100, the population is expected to plummet to 24 million, a decrease of 53%.
“South Korean leaders, including President Yoon Seok-yeol, have increased spending to encourage more babies. The government chose to live with the aging population without seeing the fruits of its efforts,” he said, citing improvements in living conditions for retirees, the introduction of robots in various industries, and the influx of more foreign labor force.
According to the Committee for Low Fertility and Aging Society, the Korean government invested about 280 trillion won from 2006 to 2021 only for the low birth rate response budget. However, it is evaluated that the sensible effect of the medium heating method was insignificant, so it was useless.
Bloomberg said, “Economists suggest that South Korea should do more on gender equality so that women can less worry about losing their jobs when they have children. One of them,” he analyzed.
Like Korea, the Japanese media, which is suffering from a low birth rate, also showed interest in the situation in Korea. Regarding the cause of Korea’s low birth rate, the Nikkei diagnosed, “more and more people are hesitant to marry and have children due to the increasing burden of raising children, such as high house prices and educational expenses.”
The Asahi Shimbun pointed out that until the early 1970s, South Korea’s total fertility rate exceeded four, but the Korean government put emphasis on birth control measures, but after the 2000s, low birth rates became a major social problem in Korea.
Asahi said, “Even compared to Japan, which is facing a low birth rate, the low figure continues.” did.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.