"South Korea Tops Global Child Support Payments... Three Times That of France, According to Chinese Research Institute Analysis"

Second in China after Korea... 2 to 3 times higher than Germany and France
"Avoiding childbirth due to economic burden"

A study has found that South Korea has the highest child-rearing costs in the world, followed by China. The Hong Kong South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported this on the 1st, citing a report recently released by the Yiwei Population Research Institute, a Beijing-based population and public policy research organization.

According to the report, the country with the highest cost of raising a child until the age of 18 is South Korea, at 7.79 times the per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP). China ranked second globally with 6.9 times. This is two to three times higher than Germany (3.64 times), Australia (2.08 times), and France (2.24 times).

Citizens browsing childcare products at a shopping mall in Seoul

The researchers estimated that raising one child in China until the age of 17 costs 485,000 yuan (approximately 94 million KRW), and if the child is supported through university graduation, the cost rises to 627,000 yuan (approximately 120 million KRW).

There is also a significant gap between urban and rural areas. The cost of raising a child until age 17 in urban China was found to be more than double that in rural areas, at 630,000 yuan. In Beijing, the estimated cost was 969,000 yuan (approximately 188 million KRW), and in Shanghai, 1,026,000 yuan (approximately 199 million KRW). In contrast, in Tibet, the cost was 293,000 yuan (approximately 57 million KRW).

According to Chinese government statistics from 2021, the average annual salary of Chinese workers was 105,000 yuan (approximately 20 million KRW).

Meanwhile, China experienced a population decline last year for the first time in 61 years, and its birth rate hit the lowest level in 73 years. The United Nations projected at the end of last month that India (1,425,778,585 people) would surpass China to become the most populous country in the world.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The researchers analyzed that “high living and education costs in South Korea and China discourage young people from marriage and childbirth.” South Korea’s total fertility rate, the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime last year, was the world’s lowest at 0.78, while China’s was 1.1.

In a nationwide survey conducted by Chinese authorities in 2017, 77.4% of women of childbearing age cited being too old, lack of someone to care for children, and economic burdens as reasons for not having more children.

Although Chinese authorities have introduced various birth promotion policies to increase the birth rate, the response from young people remains low due to economic slowdown and employment difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The researchers pointed out that “high child-rearing costs are one of the most important factors affecting the willingness to have children,” and emphasized that “policies to reduce childbirth costs for families of childbearing age should be implemented at the national level.”

They cited examples such as “specific policies like cash and tax subsidies, housing purchase assistance, building more daycare centers, gender-equal parental leave, introduction of foreign nannies, promotion of flexible work systems, guaranteeing childbirth rights for single women, infertility treatment support, and reforms in university entrance exams and school systems.”

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