ILSAN, South Korea: In their apartment on the outskirts of Seoul, Kwon Jang-ho and Cho Nam-hee sat down recently 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 take advantage of government support,” Kwon, who works as a broadcaster with a local radio station, told Al Jazeera, while poring over the numbers.
“In our building, there’s even a local government-sponsored centre where you can borrow things like toys or strollers for free,” added Cho, who is on maternity leave and, like most South Korean women, does not share her husband’s family name.
“Who doesn’t find it useful?” Kwon said. “It’s good that the government provides some support for families who already know they want kids but there are other factors to consider when it comes to tackling the low birth-rate problem.”
With the world’s lowest birth rate, South Korea faces a looming demographic and economic disaster. In 2022, the average number of babies expected per South Korean woman dropped to 0.78, down from the 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 about 2.1. To reverse the trend, South Korea’s central and local governments are scrambling to provide payments and other benefits to anyone who gives birth to a child.
South Korea, which rose from poverty to developed country status in the span of a generation, is not known for its strong social safety – its social spending is among the lowest in the OECD.
But even compared with European countries known for their well-developed social welfare systems, many of which have implemented their own “baby bonuses” in response to low birth rates, South Korea’s schemes are generous and come with few strings attached.Since 2022, mothers have received cash payments of 2 million won ($1,510) upon the birth of a child, more than in famously socialistic France.
Families receive 700,000 won ($528) in cash per month for infants up to the age of one and 350,000 won ($264) per month for infants under two, with the payments set to rise to 1 million won ($755) and 500,000 won ($377), respectively, in 2024.
A further 200,000 won ($151) per month is provided for children up until elementary school age, with additional payments available for low-income households and single parents.
Other benefits include medical costs for pregnant women, infertility treatment, babysitting services and even dating expenses.
In a district in Busan, South Korea’s second-biggest city, a separate bonus for giving birth three or more times recently increased from 500,000 won ($377) to 10 million won ($7,552). And in the rural southwestern South Jeolla Province, monthly stipends of 600,000 won ($453) per child are provided for seven years – equivalent to 50.4 million won ($38,000).But whether splashing the cash can in any way alleviate South Korea’s demographic woes is unclear.
Cho Joo-yeon, a 39-year-old Korean language interpreter in Seoul who has been married for 10 years, said having children has never been an option for her and that 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 huge standard to live up to,” Cho told Al Jazeera. “I’ve never wanted to be a pregnant person. I’m not going to sacrifice my career for a child.”
Cho’s husband Nam Hyun-woo is a creative director in the advertising industry and the couple treasure their time together despite both leading busy professional lives.
“We like the financial leisure that we have, we don’t have to worry about sending children to expensive schools or thinking about extra savings. We can splurge on ourselves and have that extra luxury,” Cho said. For many South Koreans, choosing not to marry or have children is simply a matter of preference.
In a survey carried out last year by the Office for Government Policy Coordination, 36.7 percent of 19–34-year-olds expressed no desire to have children.In Seoul, which has the lowest birth rate among cities and provinces in the country, six out of 10 young adults responded the same way in a survey by the Seoul Foundation of Women & Family.
