That is a delightful topic for a long-winded, well-lubricated after-hours discourse. Knock yourself out.
Demographic basket case
Speaking of impending extinction: Mercator readers should know that South Korea has the lowest fertility on the planet at 0.77, barely a third of the replacement level of 2.1. And there’s more disturbing news. Preliminary data just released says the country’s fertility rate for second quarter 2023 was 0.70, a shocking 9 percent below that of last year.
South Korea is the only OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) country with a fertility rate below 1.0, and the population has been declining for several years.
Along with Japan and China, the government of South Korea is in a tizz to reverse or at least stop the decline. However, these East Asian countries want to boost the numbers of their own people rather than open the floodgates to mass immigration. This way the challenges of falling fertility are not obscured by balkanizing the country with an unending stream of cheap labor migration. They know better. This favoritism for the home team helps preserve social cohesion and community spirit. Yes, Virginia, diversity mania withal, there are consequential upsides to a homogenous society.
As for South Korea, it is known far and wide as a demographic basket case. Closing schools and medical clinics has annihilated any doubt that the road to extinction will be a rough ride, considering the inevitable economic implosion from a sustained birth dearth. They at least understand the problem. They may also have stumbled onto a solution.
Miracle county?
Let’s not get our hopes up just yet, but there is an interesting case of demographic pushback, if you will, unfolding in tiny Hwacheon County, South Korea. It is catching the attention of forward-looking Koreans who want to see their nation survive.
Recently in this space we discussed Nagi, Japan’s ‘miracle town’ and their success at bucking the trend of declining fertility.
Do we have the makings of a ‘miracle county’ in South Korea? Like Nagi in Japan, Hwacheon County has figured out that local government and local people have the best solution to what ails them. Thus far both Nagi, Japan, and Korea’s Hwacheon County are successfully implementing a future-oriented family-friendly agenda.
Hwacheon County is nestled in the north of South Korea’s Gangwon Province up there by the infamous DMZ separating North and South Korea. The county is largely pastoral, with a beautiful landscape that belies the tense ongoing military standoff immediately to its north.
The county has about 24,000 residents, but government officials are intensely concerned about falling fertility. They have taken a “think globally act locally” approach. After seeing the limited success of baby bonuses and lump sum payments enacted in other countries, Hwacheon County’s Mayor Choi Moon-soon said: “We want to provide equal opportunities for people regardless of their economic background from the time child is in womb until the child graduates college.” Now that’s thinking big!
Comprehensive approach
The Korea Institute of Local Finance recently issued a report indicating that improving childcare infrastructure is more fertility friendly than cash payments to families. Their findings are that increased services and facilities reduce out-of-pocket childcare expenses, which has a more positive impact on overall family finances than direct cash payments.