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According to reports, South Korea is facing a serious demographic crisis. The latest statistics show that South Korea's birth rate has continued to decline and has even fallen below a record low.
According to a report by South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo, the number of newborns fell below 20,000 in February this year, the first time it fell below 20,000 in the first quarter. The number of newborns in February this year fell by 3.3% from the same period last year, reaching a record low of 19,362, according to the data.
On March 27, the Korea Population Health and Welfare Association released a survey showing that 1 in 5 unmarried women in South Korea do not want to have children. In addition, South Koreans generally believe that the cost of raising children is high, which is one of the reasons for the reluctance to have children. More than 28.7% of first-time newlyweds who registered their marriage for less than five years in South Korea in 2022 are "Dinks".
South Korea's demographic crisis has become one of the country's most serious challenges. According to 2022 data, South Korea ranks first in the world in terms of total fertility rate, while in 2023, the number of births in South Korea is only 235,000, a record low.
The impact of the declining birth rate on the country is multifaceted, including labor shortages, increased pension burdens, and limited economic growth. Low fertility can lead to a shortage of labor supply, affecting the country's economic growth and competitiveness. At the same time, the aging problem will also intensify, the burden of old-age care will increase, and the pressure on social welfare expenditure will increase. In addition, a low birth rate can have a profound impact on a country's culture, social structure and international status.
Looking back at the current situation of the population in mainland China:
The number of registered marriages in China is declining
According to the data released in the statistical annual report of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the number of legally registered marriages in China has dropped from 13.0674 million in 2014 to 9.131 million in 2020, indicating that the number of marriages in the mainland is getting smaller and smaller, and the size of unmarried groups tends to be large.
Declining Birth Population
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China's birth rate continued to decline between 2016 and 2022. Although the implementation of the "two-child policy" and the "two-child policy for all" in 2014 failed to produce the desired results, China's birth population and birth rate have been declining year by year since 2017. By 2020, the birth rate had fallen below 10 per 1,000. As of 2022, China's birth rate is only 6.77 per 1,000.
Women of childbearing age do not have a strong desire to have children
Factors such as economic pressure, high childcare costs, and rising housing prices are important factors affecting fertility intentions. An article previously released by Zhejiang officials pointed out that the current cost of childbirth is huge. According to the National Survey on Fertility Intentions, heavy financial burden is the top 10 reasons why women of childbearing age do not plan to have children.
According to the "2021 Survey Report on the Current Situation of Chinese Women's Workplaces" released by Zhaopin.com in early March 2021, it is difficult to promote reproduction of families who have already given birth to children. According to the survey data, policies such as the "full liberalization of birth restrictions" have not effectively increased respondents' willingness to have multiple children. It was reported that 76.9% of working moms and 65.5% of working dads said they would "keep it as usual", while 12.7% of working dads wanted to have more children. At the same time, only 5% of working mothers, who have a higher cost of childbearing, make this choice.
The Development Research Center of the State Council released the China Development Report 2023, predicting that the number of births will decrease by about one million every decade in the future. According to the report, the birth rate is likely to remain low in the future, mainly due to the delay in the age of marriage, the decline in the willingness of young people to have children, the decline in the number of women of childbearing age, and the high rate of infertility.
Economist Ren Zeping put forward a suggestion, that is, to combine the issuance of consumption vouchers with the encouragement of childbirth, and to issue more consumption vouchers to families with many children. This measure can not only boost domestic demand confidence, stimulate short-term economic growth, but also increase fertility rate, which in turn will enhance long-term economic growth potential. In addition, this proposal can also improve people's happiness index, achieving the effect of killing three birds with one stone, which is beneficial for both current and long-term development.
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