South Korea’s birth rate fell to a record low last year, data showed on Wednesday, another grim milestone for the country with the world’s lowest expected number of children per woman.
The average number of children expected per South Korean woman during her reproductive life fell to 0.78 in 2022 from 0.81 a year earlier, official annual data from Statistics Korea showed. This is the lowest among countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which had an average rate of 1.59 in 2020, and well below the United States’ 1.64 and Japan’s 1.33 in the same year. The government has failed to reverse the declining birth rate despite spending billions of dollars each year on childcare subsidies.
As of 2020, South Korea was the only country among OECD members to have a rate below 1, indicating a declining population. Marriage is considered a prerequisite for having children in South Korea, but marriages in the country are also on the decline due to sky-high housing and education costs. The capital Seoul recorded the lowest birth rate at 0.59.
Read Now :<strong>ASEAN chairs Indonesia to step up negotiations on South China Sea code</strong>
