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韩国生育率2023年降至世界最低，预测：本世纪末韩国人口将减半

South Korea’s fertility (生育) rate, which already is the world’s lowest, dropped again in 2023. This means that the number of babies a South Korean woman is expected to have during her reproductive (繁殖的) years dropped from 0.78 in 2022 to 0.72 in 2023. The fertility number is much lower than the rate of 2.1 per woman that would be needed to keep South Korea’s population stable. In 2015, when the cost of housing and education was lower, the rate was 1.24.

South Korea’s population has been shrinking for a long time. Since 2018, the nation has been the only member of a group of large economies to have a rate below one. The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) includes a wide group of nations such as Britain, the United States, Australia, New Zealand as well as Mexico and Chile. Among OECD nations, South Korea has the largest difference in pay between men and women.

Balancing motherhood with a job is a concern for South Korean women. Jung Jae-hoon is a professor at Seoul Women’s University. Jung noted that women have trouble moving their careers forward after taking leave to care for children. An example of this is Gwak Tae-hee who is 34. She is concerned about missing career opportunities if she stops working to start a family. She has been married for three years and works as a manager for a company that makes milk products. “Having a baby is on my list, but there are windows for promotions and I don’t want to be passed over,” she said. Gwak said she considered starting medical treatments last year that would help her have a child. However, she decided against it because she wanted to take on work projects that would help her career.

Since 2006, the South Korean government has spent about $270 billion in areas such as helping families pay for childcare, but the fertility numbers are still falling. If the birth rate continues to drop, South Korea’s population of about 51 million will be cut in half by 2100.

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