May 8, 2006

Korea’s Birthrate Plunges to New Record Low

The country’s birthrate has dropped to the point where the average Korean woman is expected to have only one child throughout her life. The drop is the fastest in the world. If the trend continues, the population will drop some 8.69 million to 39.48 million by 2050, from 48.17 million as of 2005, the government forecast Monday. The National Statistical Office said the number of newborns per woman of childbearing age (15-49) fell to 1.08 last year. A figure below 2.1 means the population is starting to decline.

The nation’s birthrate experienced a dramatic fall from four or five in the 1970s to 1.59 in 1990 and set a new world record in 2001 with 1.3. “If the rate continues to drop at this pace, Korea will become the lone nation in the world with a birthrate below 1 next year,” a Finance Ministry official said.

The government explained that more women wait longer to get married, mainly for economic reasons such as rising real estate prices and employment insecurity, and do not want to give birth. For the first time in the nation’s history, the percentage of women in their 30s who gave birth was actually greater than that of women in their 20s, with 50.3 percent as against 47.7 percent.

A low birthrate is a serious social problem in many developed nations, but in most of them the rate has been slowly growing since 2001. The U.S. still has a birthrate of more than two, rising minutely from 2.034 in 2001 to 2.048 in 2004, while the U.K. saw births inch up from 1.63 to 1.74, France from 1.88 to 1.9 and Germany from 1.34 to 1.37 in the same period.

This is truly an emergency [for Korea]. Who will be working, paying taxes and supporting the elderly if the birthrate continues to drop? Our economy will break down and our welfare system go bankrupt. Where eight people of working age now support one elderly person, there will be only three by 2030. By 2050, the three will have to support two elderly people.

Why is Korea’s birthrate so low? First of all, women find it hard to work and raise children at the same time. Women’s economic participation shows an M-shaped pattern, where 64.4 percent of those in their 20s work, dropping to 53.8 percent for those in their 30s and recovering to 63.9 percent for those in their 40s. That shows how many women in their 30s, forced to choose between work or children, stop working due to the heavy burden of having and bringing up a child.

Japan is doing slightly better than Korea with a birthrate of 1.29, but it still created the new post of a Cabinet secretary taking care of the low birthrate last year. It also introduced a “free birth” policy, whereby the government pays for all the costs of childbirth. The Japanese government helps with childrearing expenses for children under the age of three and medical costs for children under six. Japanese companies allow staff with children in third grade or younger to go home as early as 3 p.m., as well as providing maternity leave and parenting leave. Some companies even pay for moving expenses when their staff move near their parents so they can take care of their children.

France and Sweden succeeded in raising their birthrate again after it dropped. There is no discrimination in the two countries in terms of law and social welfare against children born out of wedlock or against single mothers, because they believe that raising the birthrate will depend on women’s willingness to give birth. By the same token, the crisis in Korea is in part due to a feeling among women that they cannot give birth in the current social and economic situation.

Our society and our businesses must change their culture from one where pregnant women or mothers are considered a burden to one where these women are regarded as a treasure to be cherished. The government must take the lead. It also needs to improve the relevant labor and civil legislation. Without a determination to change public perception, practices and laws to address the issue, we will never be able to prevent Korea’s population from dwindling.

Article(s) published by the Chosun Ilbo on 5/8/06 at http://english.chosun.com/.