South Korea is the global birth dearth poster child. A demographic basket case. Every year it claims the record for the world’s lowest fertility rate, now 0.78. Statistics Korea projects a rate of 0.65 by 2025. The capital Seoul, home to one in five South Koreans, rings in at 0.59.
When South Korea was founded in 1948, the population was just over 20 million. It peaked in 2020 at over 51 million, declining since. Projections have South Korea shrinking more than 50 percent by century’s end.
But numbers cannot describe the struggles of an ageing society. The government has offered generous incentives for families to have children, but so far no luck.
As post-World War II prosperity enveloped East Asia, South Korea’s government saw expanding population as a hindrance to economic growth. In 1962, a family planning agency was established to promote birth control. Contraceptives were distributed. Abortion was legalised in 1973. Favourable housing loans and other incentives were provided to parents who got sterilised. In 1983, the government suspended maternal health insurance for women with three or more children and abolished education tax deductions for folks with two or more young’uns.
Today, the government has reversed course and is doing its utmost to encourage larger families.
In February, the City of Seoul unveiled an ambitious annual $1.35 billion (1.8 trillion won) “birth encouragement” project. Some particulars:
All this is great social planning. But will it work? Koreans are sceptical. While Seoul’s “birth encouragement” initiative is impressive in scope, Koreans have heard it all before. However, as falling fertility is now deemed a national emergency, the private sector has entered the fray.
Earlier this month, the construction giant Booyung Group announced that it is paying $75,000 (100 million won) to employees each time their family has a baby.
Booyung’s 84-years-young Chairman Lee Joon-keun unabashedly advocates “direct financial support” to families. To date, Booyung has paid a total of $5.25 million to employees who have welcomed 70 babies. They have the resources. Aside from commercial projects, the company has built nearly 300,000 homes since its founding in 1983.
Under the Booyung plan, employees with three or more children will have the option of receiving a benefit of $225,000 in either cash or rental housing, provided the government makes land available for construction of these units.
According to Mr Lee:
If Korea’s birth rate remains low, the country will face the crisis of extinction in 20 years.
The low birth rate results from financial burdens and difficulties in balancing work and family life, so we decided to take such a drastic measure.
I hope we would get recognised as a company that contributes to encouraging births… and worries about the country’s future.
Mr Lee also advocates tax-exempt status for childbirth incentive programs so donations to them can be tax-deductible.
Other South Korean companies have birth incentives: LG Electronics offers two years of paternal leave and time off for fertility treatment. POSCO, a steel company, increased opportunities for employees with children to work from home. HD Hyundai offers $14,000 in preschool expenses for each employee’s child for three years.
Construction management HamniGlobal’s Chairman Kim Jong-hoon announced that any mother who gives birth to a third child will immediately be promoted to the next-highest position.
The chairman has a philosophy that people who give birth to children are heroes in this era. He believes that the way to save Korea, which is suffering from a declining birth rate, is to have more children.
HanmiGlobal… pays 1 million won for the first birth, 2 million won for the second, 5 million won for the third and 10 million won for the fourth. It also provides free fertility treatments for employees who have difficulty conceiving.
Samsung Electronics allows new mothers, when they return to work, to work from home. Boosting fertility is now a national priority. The precedent-setting Booyung initiative is leading the way.
South Korea’s low birthrate “directly impacts defence manpower”. The Straits Times headline sums it up: “Women, old men in military? South Korea debates solutions for looming conscript shortfall.”
South Korea maintains a 500,000 active-duty defence force. Able-bodied men are obliged to serve at least 18 months of military service. The “dwindling demographic of young male conscripts” has caused a manpower shortage. What to do? Chung-An University Professor Choi Young-jin has proposed a “senior army” of men between 55-75 years of age:
Drafting women into the army is not wise for a country that should make its utmost effort to encourage births.
Currently, there are about 6.91 million men aged between 55 and 75, a significant number of whom are prepared to take up arms for the country once again.
Korea’s Reform Party advocates women serving in the military as firefighters and police. Expect a plethora of new ideas as South Korea fights for its survival.
South Korea rose from the strife of the Korean War to become an “Asian Tiger” economy. What if the same resolve that brought that about was directed to pro-family purposes?
South Korea is considered a wealthy country. Really? I am reminded of Don Michael Corleone’s words in The Godfather: Part III: “The only wealth in this world is children.”
Louis T. March has a background in government, business, and philanthropy. A former talk show host, author, and public speaker, he is a dedicated student of history and genealogy. Louis lives with his family in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. His article is printed with permission
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