South Korea recorded its lowest-ever fertility rate last year, at just 0.81 children per woman.
The total fertility rate in 2021 was a decrease from 0.84 children per woman in 2020, according to the Yonhap News Agency. The newest finding marks the fourth year in a row in which the country’s total fertility rate has been below 1.00 — the only country in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an organization of advanced democracies, where this is the case. The average total fertility rate among these nations as of 2020 is 1.59 children per woman.
The record-low statistic marks the plummeting of South Korea’s fertility rate, which is now about seven and a half times lower than it was just after the Korean War in 1953, at around six children per woman, according to the RAND Corporation.
US AND SOUTH KOREA BEGIN JOINT MILITARY DRILLS AS NORTH KOREAN THREAT GROWS
The reasons for South Korea’s falling birth rate vary, but most experts point to rapid urbanization, the legacy of family planning from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, skyrocketing housing costs, sex-selective abortions, and, especially in recent years, growing feminism among South Korean women.
Women in South Korea complain about perceived outdated attitudes toward their gender, and as more enter the workforce, many find the entire prospect of marriage unappealing. More women are unwilling to stay at home to perform traditional household duties, such as cooking, cleaning, and child-rearing.
“Getting married just means that the guy expects you to stay at home and cook for him,” a woman who works for an NGO in Seoul told the Economist in 2018. “Why would I want to do that?”
Meanwhile, having children outside of marriage is seen as shameful. Men are hesitant about marriage as well, as societal pressures expect them to provide for the family. As living costs in South Korea skyrocket and the economy slows down, more and more men feel themselves inadequate.
Growing feminist attitudes among South Korean women have also crippled any attempts from the government to pursue pro-natalist policies, even minor ones. An initiative by President Park Geun-hye in 2016, in which her administration made a “birth map,” which shaded areas in the country with higher birth rates in bright pink in order to encourage other areas to match them, was decried by many women as treating them “like farm animals,” according to the Economist.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The record-low birthrate does not bode well for the country, as it has been well below the replacement level of 2.1 since 1983, according to data from the OECD.
Experts say that South Korea will experience an “age quake” in 2030-2040, according to the Yonhap News Agency, with a demographic shock great enough to be compared to an earthquake, as the country’s rapidly aging population retires or dies off at an accelerated rate. The working-age population is expected to be cut by a third over the next 30 years, then by over half in the next 50, according to the Korea Times.
