If You Have a Baby in Ulsan This Year, You Will Receive 7 Million Won

Ulsan City, '2022 Intensive Investment Project for Infants' in Full Swing

Budget of 101.8 Billion KRW, Introduction of First Meeting Voucher and Infant Allowance

Expected Annual Support of 6.9 to 7.8 Million KRW per Newborn This Year

Ulsan City Hall.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Kim Yong-woo] A ‘Young-a Project’ with a budget of over 100 billion KRW will be launched in Ulsan in the new year.

Led by Ulsan City, this is an active investment project aimed at reducing the economic burden on families raising children while hoping for population growth in Ulsan through childbirth and in-migration.

A total of 101.8 billion KRW will be invested this year in the ‘2022 Early Childhood Intensive Investment Project.’

This project alleviates the economic burden on families raising children in the early stages of life. It also guarantees practical childcare choices for parents and children together. It is a project that strengthens social responsibility for childbirth and childcare.

Newly established or expanded national budget subsidy projects include △ First Meeting Voucher, △ Infant Allowance, and △ Child Allowance.

Ulsan City’s own projects include △ Snack and Meal Expenses for Daycare Centers, △ Class Operation Expenses for Daycare Centers, and △ Childbirth Support Funds.

The newly introduced First Meeting Voucher will be provided via the National Happiness Card. Starting this year, Ulsan City will spend a total budget of 11.6 billion KRW to provide 2 million KRW First Meeting Vouchers to all newborns.

The voucher can be used for one year from the child’s date of birth at all businesses except those outside the intended purpose, such as gambling and leisure industries.

The First Meeting Voucher has been available for application online through the Welfare Road and Government24 websites, as well as in person at the administrative welfare centers in the child’s registered residential area, since January 3 of this year. After preparation for system implementation, payments are scheduled to begin on April 1.

The Infant Allowance has also been newly established. From this year, Ulsan City will invest a total budget of 12.4 billion KRW to provide a monthly infant allowance of 300,000 KRW to families raising infants aged 0 to 1 born this year.

The Infant Allowance integrates the existing childcare allowance and plans to gradually increase to 500,000 KRW per month by 2025. However, if full-day childcare services or daycare centers are used, support will be provided in the form of vouchers, and duplicate support is not allowed.

The Child Allowance’s eligible age range will also be expanded. The Child Allowance is a system that provides 100,000 KRW per month to promote child welfare and reduce childcare burdens.

Following the revision of the ‘Child Allowance Act’ in December last year, the eligible age range will expand from under 7 years old to under 8 years old starting this year.

The additional budget for the age expansion is 11 billion KRW, with a total budget of 72.5 billion KRW invested.

Childbirth support funds will also be maintained. Since January 2020, Ulsan City has supported all newborns from the first child onward with the existing ‘Childbirth Support Fund,’ which will continue as is.

This year, a total budget of 2.3 billion KRW will be spent to provide 100,000 KRW for the first child, 500,000 KRW for the second child, and 1 million KRW for the third child and beyond, alongside the newly introduced First Meeting Voucher.

Thus, newborns in Ulsan will benefit from 6.9 million to 7.8 million KRW annually this year.

When combining the newly established or expanded First Meeting Voucher, Infant Allowance, Child Allowance, and childbirth support funds starting this year, the scale of support per child during early childhood has been dramatically expanded.

Additionally, childbirth support funds separately provided by basic local governments will remain, ranging from 400,000 KRW up to 5 million KRW, further increasing the total support amount.

Ulsan City will also carry out key projects to improve the childcare environment. For the first time this year, Ulsan City will provide 1.9 billion KRW for balanced meals and quality snacks at daycare centers and 600 million KRW in class operation expenses to support childcare services.

Moreover, to supplement weakened family care functions due to dual-income households and to create a community childcare network, the ‘Happy Shared Childcare Centers’ (500 million KRW) will be expanded from 8 locations to 10 this year.

An official from Ulsan City said, “The Early Childhood Intensive Investment Project starting this year will significantly reduce the burden of childcare,” adding, “We will work harder to create conditions where children can be happy.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.