According to South Korea’s statistical data in 2023, the number of children that a woman is expected to have in her lifetime fell to a record low of 0.72 from 0.78 in 2022. And this number has even gotten worse in urban areas, resulting in 0.55 for Seoul alone. In general the reasons for low birth rates in most developed countries are often related to the diversification of values and lifestyle changes. But there seems to be specific issues that South Korea has in its extremely low birth rates.
The first reason is “Rapid Urbanization and High Cost of Living”.
South Korea has some of the most expensive housing in the entire world, especially in its urban areas. Expensive housing and high household debts discourage young people from having families. The problem of high cost living has been exacerbated by the fact that basically everyone in South Korea wants to live in Seoul.
Because like in other major cities in the world, South Korea’s economy, politics and amusement facilities are concentrated in urban areas. And surprisingly, roughly 50% of South Korea’s entire population live in the Seoul metro area.
Another reason for the high cost of housing is speculative investment in the real estate market. In recent decades, property investment by individuals has become popular in South Korea. They believed it would be more profitable to invest in properties rather than to deposit their money in a bank.
During the regime of the former president Moon Jae-in, he implemented a lot of strict regulations to curb the soaring property prices. But contrary to his expectation, the housing prices skyrocketed and many people saw this as a good opportunity to buy, expecting the property prices would increase more. and this phenomenon further increased the level of property prices. Housing bubble finally has bursted in mid 2022, but the property prices are still too high.
The second reason is “Gender inequality” in South Korea.
South Korean men are generally very culturally conservative. Women are more likely to be expected to do most of the housework and childcare. There is still a deep rooted conservative idea in its entire society that women should become housewives after getting married.
This discriminative way of thinking against women is also pervasive in workplaces.
Working mothers are often treated unfairly. And that could make them feel uncomfortable to keep working. One very surprising example is that, in a cosmetic company in South Korea recently introduced new benefits for their employees, which is those who declare they will never get married and promised to focus on their work will be provided financial incentives by the company. Preferential treatment for singles means some companies do not welcome married women.
But today, Korean women can receive higher education and have good jobs as women in other developed countries. So it’s natural for them to think that they don’t want to give up their career for their marriage or childbirth. On the other hand, it is also a problem that young couples cannot live on the husband's income alone. Furthermore, the employment rate of university graduates is only 60% and many young people have no choice but to work as part time workers with unstable income.
Then the third reason is “high education cost” in South Korea.
South Korea is very famous for its competitive university entrance examinations.
Japan also has competitive entrance exams, but it’s not as fierce as South Korea.
The academic background is considered really important in South Korea.
Parents invest heavily in their children’s education, including private tutoring and extracurricular activities.
According to recent statistics, the amount of money that South Korean parents spent on their children’s private education has increased for three consecutive years, despite declining birth rates. In 2023, households in South Koreas with a monthly income of about 5,800 dollars or more spent an average of 500 dollars per month per child on their child's private education. And of course the wealthier people spend more and more money, some parents spend 1000-2000 dollars per month.
Children in South Korea are forced to study hard to pass the entrance exams of top universities. Parents believe that they should do everything they can to ensure their children get into the top universities. To win the competitive education wars, many children normally start studying for universities when they enter elementary schools.
Because it is believed that going to a prestigious university guarantees a brighter future. So raising children is considered to be extremely expensive, and something for only wealthy couples. The high cost of living and ballooning education expenses are overwhelming for younger generations.
In addition, today’s many young people seem to think that they don’t want to force their children to go through the same harsh competitive exam wars that they experienced. But as I mentioned earlier, only 60% of graduates can get full time jobs, despite these competitive exam wars. That’s another reason they are reluctant to have children.
The fourth reason is South Korea’s “highly competitive society itself”
Not only education, but all of South Korean society is very competitive. There are a lot of perfectionists in the country, and society itself demands people to seek perfectionism in every part of their lives. A sort of “All or nothing” thinking is ingrained in people’s minds. Perhaps, it’s related to national character of Koreans. We could say that fierce education wars and fever in South Korea is one of the good examples of this country’s perfectionism.
And the same goes for the high cost of housing, which young people often cited as a reason for not having children. In fact, the Korean government provides low-cost housing to young couples to support their financial burden. But many young couples don’t want to live in those affordable apartments. Because their pride does not allow them to live in such a small and low cost apartment. Instead, they prefer to rent or buy a luxury apartment even if it needs a huge mortgage. The thing is they hate to lower their living standards by marriage or child rearing.
Due to too much pride comes from perfectionism, today's young Koreans cannot lower their living standards or give up their career. They are afraid that they would be seen as losers if they give up high status jobs and a high standard of living. And that discourages them from having a family.
In this way, South Korea has in particular been struggling to deal with low birth rates. In addition to the economic burden and sustainability of social programs,
this demographic shift in South Korea has led to a reduction in the number of young men available for military service. In South Korea, military service of 18 to 21 months is mandatory for men aged from 18 to 35. In fact, active-duty military personnel have also decreased from 620,000 in 2017 to 500,000 in 2022. This has become another serious problem, considering the national security, especially the looming threat of North Korea.
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