Gyeongbuk Provincial Assembly Member Lee Dong-eop Proposes Ordinance to Change Multi-Child Family Definition from 3 or More to 2 or More Children...

Lee Dong-eop, a member of the Gyeongbuk Provincial Assembly (People Power Party, Pohang), who is the chief proposer, has seen the "Ordinance on Support for Multi-Child Families in Gyeongsangbuk-do" pass the review of the Administrative, Health, and Welfare Committee on April 25 and is now awaiting final approval at the plenary session.

The ordinance proposed by Assemblyman Lee Dong-eop aims to alleviate the childcare burden for multi-child families residing in Gyeongsangbuk-do by establishing provisions to create a stable residential environment and a childbearing and child-rearing friendly environment, thereby addressing the low birthrate issue.

Gyeongbuk Provincial Council Member Dong-eop Lee.

The main contents include regulations on support projects for multi-child families, the establishment and implementation of support plans for multi-child families, surveys to understand the actual conditions and policy demands of multi-child families, restrictions on duplicate support, and matters related to publicity.

In particular, the term "multi-child family" is defined as "a household with a registered address in Gyeongsangbuk-do that has given birth to or adopted two or more children and is raising them, with at least one child under the age of 19," thereby expanding the scope of multi-child families from three children to two children to support more families and foster a childbirth-friendly social atmosphere.

According to Statistics Korea, the total fertility rate in South Korea was 0.78 in 2022, continuously decreasing from 1.24 in 2015. The crude birth rate in Gyeongbuk (number of births per 1,000 population) was 4.3 in 2022, which is 0.6 lower than the national average of 4.9, ranking as the sixth lowest nationwide.

Assemblyman Lee Dong-eop emphasized the seriousness of the low birthrate issue, stating, "South Korea, including Gyeongsangbuk-do, is experiencing the world's lowest level of low birthrate and unprecedented rapid aging. The number of births in our country has decreased by 23.8% over the past five years, and as of March 2023, Gyeongbuk's registered population has fallen below 2.6 million to 2,593,210."

He continued, "The Presidential Committee on Ageing Society and Population Policy is already gradually implementing measures to relax the support criteria for multi-child families from three children to two children, actively expanding support for multi-child families to reduce the relative childcare burden according to the number of children and to provide conditions for healthy child growth."

He also stated, "Through the enactment of this ordinance, it is expected to greatly contribute to overcoming the low birthrate problem in Gyeongsangbuk-do by providing support projects to alleviate the childcare burden of multi-child families and creating a stable residential environment."

This ordinance is scheduled to be finally approved and enacted at the 2nd plenary session of the extraordinary assembly to be held on the 9th.

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