A YouTube channel with 21.2 million subscribers shed light on Korea’s low birth rate problem. The channel left a strong warning message, saying that Korea will become a ‘country of old people’.
On the 4th, a 13-minute video titled ‘Why Korea is Dying Out’ was posted on the YouTube channel ‘Kurzgesagt’. An image of the Taegeukgi flowing down was inserted into the video thumbnail.
The channel is operated by a motion graphic animation and design studio located in Munich, Germany, and covers educational content such as natural science and social science.
The topic of this video was Korea’s low birth rate and aging problem. First, the channel started by saying, “Last year, Korea’s average birth rate per woman was 0.8, the lowest in the world.”
(YouTube capture)The channel said, “This means that today, 100 people of reproductive age for both men and women have 40 children,” pointing out that unless there is a change in the birth rate, 40 will decrease to 16, and 16 will decrease to 6.
“If nothing changes, the Korean youth population will decrease by 94% within 100 years,” he said. “With no certainty about whether the birth rate has bottomed out, it is expected that the current Korean population of 52 million will increase to 24 million by 2100.” “This is a level back to the 1950s (20 million people),” he explained.
The channel pointed out that the problem is changes in ‘population structure’ rather than simple population decline. The channel said, “If Korea’s median age in 1950 was 18 (19), it will become a country of elderly people, with the median age reaching 45 in 2023 and 59 in 2100.”
Joanne Williams, professor emeritus at California State University Law School, was shocked when she heard about Korea’s birth rate last August. (EBS capture)He emphasized that as the working-age population (ages 15 to 64), which supplies labor, decreases and ages, medical costs and poverty that society must bear will increase explosively. At the same time, he claimed that China is currently experiencing this problem and that the situation is similar to that of Korea.
Lastly, the channel said, “In an aging society, the elected government represents the interests of the elderly population. “This leads to a society that thinks in the short term and prefers maintaining the existing rather than innovating,” he said. “Solving future problems such as climate change requires massive investment and fresh ideas, but that is becoming difficult.”
He added that gender equality must be achieved as a solution to the low birth rate, financial benefits for parents such as support for childcare expenses, and stable housing prices are needed.
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.