Ilsan, South Korea – At their apartment on the outskirts of Seoul, Kwon Jang-ho and Cho Nam-hee recently sat down at the kitchen table to work out the monthly budget for their 17-month-old son Ju-ha.
“Raising a baby in Korea can be affordable if you don’t buy unnecessary stuff and get government assistance,” Kwon, who works as a broadcaster at a local radio station, told Al Jazeera while poring over the numbers.
“There’s even a local government-sponsored center in our building where you can borrow things like toys or strollers for free,” added Cho, who is on maternity leave and, like most South Korean women, doesn’t share her husband’s surname.
“Who doesn’t find it useful?” said Kwon. “It’s good that the government is supporting families who already know they want children, but there are other factors to consider when it comes to tackling the problem of low birth rates.”
With the world’s lowest birth rate, South Korea faces a looming demographic and economic catastrophe. In 2022, the average number of babies expected per South Korean woman fell to 0.78, down from a previous record low of 0.81 the previous year.
The replacement rate in developed countries — the number of births needed to keep the population stable — is typically around 2.1.
South Korean couples like Kwon Jang-ho and Cho Nam-hee are eligible for a range of government benefits aimed at supporting young families [Raphael Rashid]To reverse the trend, South Korea’s central and local governments are scrambling to provide payments and other benefits to everyone who gives birth.
South Korea, which rose from poverty to developed country status in a generation, is not known for its strong social security system – its social spending is among the lowest in the OECD.
But even compared to European countries known for their well-developed welfare systems, many of which have introduced their own “baby bonuses” in response to low birth rates, South Korea’s programs are generous and come with few strings attached.
Since 2022, mothers have received 2 million won (US$1,510) in cash payments upon childbirth, more than in famously socialist France.
Families will receive 700,000 won (US$528) in cash per month for infants up to the age of one and 350,000 won (US$264) per month for infants under the age of two, with payments capped at 1 million won (US$755) and 500,000 won ( 377 USD) to rise ) or in 2024.
An additional 200,000 won (US$151) per month will be provided for children up to elementary school age, with additional payments available for low-income households and single parents.
Other benefits include medical expenses for pregnant women, infertility treatments, babysitting services, and even dating expenses.
In a district in Busan, South Korea’s second-largest city, the separate bonus for having three or more children recently rose from 500,000 won (US$377) to 10 million won (US$7,552). And in the rural southwestern province of South Jeolla, monthly stipends of 600,000 won (US$453) per child — equivalent to 50.4 million won (US$38,000) — will be provided for seven years.
South Korea has introduced a wide range of financial incentives to boost the country’s chronically low birth rate [Raphael Rashid]But whether injecting the money will in any way alleviate South Korea’s demographic woes is unclear.
Cho Joo-yeon, a 39-year-old Korean interpreter in Seoul who has been married for 10 years, said having children was never an option for her and no amount of government support would change her mind.
“Having a child would be a huge responsibility because the basis would be how my parents raised me, which is a tremendous standard to live up to,” Cho told Al Jazeera. “I never wanted to be pregnant. I will not sacrifice my career for a child.”
Cho’s husband, Nam Hyun-woo, is a creative director in advertising and the couple cherish their time together, despite both leading busy professional lives.
“We like the financial spare time we have, we don’t have to worry about sending kids to expensive schools or thinking about extra savings. We can spoil ourselves and have that extra luxury,” Cho said.
For many South Koreans, not marrying or having children is simply a matter of preference.
In a survey conducted last year by the Office for Government Policy Coordination, 36.7 percent of 19- to 34-year-olds said they did not want children.
In Seoul, which has the lowest fertility rate among the country’s cities and provinces, six out of 10 young adults responded the same way in a survey conducted by the Seoul Foundation of Women & Family.
According to survey data from the Korean Association for Social Welfare Studies, among young South Korean women, only 4 percent see marriage and parenthood as essential, with more than half seeing neither as important in their lives.
In 2022, South Korea, where extramarital births remain rare, had just 192,000 marriages, an all-time low.
Experts have often pointed out that a complex web of issues preventing families from having children needs to be addressed, including a grueling work culture, sky-high housing and education costs, and gender inequality.
In a survey conducted earlier this year for the Joongang Ilbo newspaper, 27.4 percent of respondents said the burden of childcare costs is the main reason for low birth rates. Other reasons given were job insecurity, housing instability and other economic factors.
Some controversial remedies put forward by politicians include exempting men with three or more children from compulsory military service and allowing foreign domestic workers to work for less than minimum wage to ease the burden of housework.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has called for “bold” action to tackle his country’s fertility crisis [Daewoung Kim/Reuters]South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol recently stated that spending of 280 trillion won ($211 billion)
Still, the government has doubled the financial incentives.
Professor Song Da-yeong, a professor of social welfare at Incheon National University, said cash grants are not a long-term solution.
“Raising children is not about financially supporting a child for the first two years of life,” Song told Al Jazeera. “A high parental benefit is only possible when a child is grown up.”
Kwon Jang-ho and Cho Nam-hee, who live in Ilsan, about 25 kilometers north of the South Korean capital, expect greater challenges when their son starts primary school.
“For people who live in big cities and have high standards, there is increasing competition to send our children to the best schools. They have no choice but to spend money on Hagwons,” Cho said, referring to the private after-school academies that many parents enroll their children in as early as the age of five.
Kwon Jang-ho and Cho Nam-hee worry about the cost of their son’s education when he gets older [Raphael Rashid]In 2022, South Koreans’ spending on private education hit a new record, with total annual spending reaching 26 trillion won ($19.6 billion) and nearly 80 percent of all students received some form of private education.
“There’s always this pressure to be ahead of everyone else,” Kwon said.
Song, the university professor, said the government needs to focus on creating an environment where parents can balance work and childcare, rather than just financial support.
South Korea has some of the longest working hours among developed countries and is ranked as the worst OECD country for women when it comes to equal employment opportunities in the Economist’s annual Glass Ceiling Index.
“It must include measures such as taking all available parental leave, reduced working hours and flexible working arrangements,” Song said, stressing the need for an environment where women are not “kicked out of the labor market” after childbirth.
Although South Korea’s traditionally patriarchal attitude is gradually changing, women are often still expected – and in some cases obliged – to become full-time mothers after childbirth.
Cho Joo-yeon, the interpreter who plans to remain childless, believes social structure and perceptions must be changed to cope with South Korea’s low birthrate.
“It’s not just one person, one government or one generation that needs to change; there may even be several,” she said.
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