South Korea’s fertility rate has risen for the first time in nine years, as a surge in marriages after the pandemic spurs hopes that the world’s fastest-ageing society may have turned a corner.
The country’s fertility rate — the average number of babies a woman is expected to have in her lifetime — increased from 0.72 in 2023 to 0.75 last year, according to the latest data from the national statistics office.
Although the rate remains the lowest in the world and far below the 2.1 needed to ensure a broadly stable population, this is the first rise since 2015, when it was 1.24.
Officials partly attributed the rise to an increase in the number of marriages after the pandemic. There were 222,422 marriages last year, the highest number since 239,159 in 2019.
“There was a change in social values, with more positive views about marriage and childbirth,” said Park Hyun-jung, an official at Statistics Korea, on Wednesday, adding that last year’s trend was also driven by an increase in the number of people in their early 30s as well as pandemic delays.
“It is difficult to measure how much each factor contributed to the rise in new births, but they themselves had an impact on each other, too,” said Park.
The growing demographic crisis has been a huge challenge for South Korean policymakers, who are grappling with falling economic growth and the increased cost of pensions and healthcare for its ageing population.
Given widespread economic and cultural discrimination, many South Korean women remain reluctant to marry or have children.
In response, the government has committed more than Won380tn ($270bn) since 2006 to make childcare more affordable, expand paid parental leave and encourage reduced working hours.
The government has increased parental leave from 12 to 18 months, tripled the monthly allowances for childcare and expanded subsidies for small businesses that allow flexibility for working mothers. It also introduced a pilot scheme to let 100 Filipino workers come to Seoul to help with domestic tasks.
Big companies have also offered incentives.
Construction group Booyoung has offered workers a $75,000 bonus for each baby they produce in one of many eye-catching incentives on offer.
Whether momentum will continue is unclear. Shin Kyung-ah, sociology professor at Hallym University, said the rebound appeared to be a post-pandemic blip.
“I am not sure if the fertility rate has turned the corner. Things can get worse if the economy deteriorates,” she said. “Young people’s perception towards marriages and child births has not improved much, given the structural economic and cultural problems.”
Data visualisation by Haohsiang Ko in Hong Kong