[The Editors' Verdict] Three Proposals to Encourage the Decision to Have Children

Expand Support to Cohabiting and Unmarried Births
Focus on First Child Rather Than Multiple Children
Remove Income Criteria for Infertility Support

If we were to pick a year that stands out for the number of births since the 2000s, it would undoubtedly be 2007. The number of births that year was 496,822. The superstition that having a child in the ‘Golden Pig Year,’ which returned after 600 years, would bring wealth and good fortune spread widely, resulting in 45,063 more births than in 2006. The superstition of the Golden Pig Year had a stronger effect than any low birthrate policy the government had implemented since the 2000s. Perhaps as a result, these children have always had to contend with the keyword ‘war.’ The admission war, which began with public childcare, has continued up to this year as they entered high school.

However, it would be a mistake to think of 2007 as a year of explosive population growth. Although it was the highest number of births since 2002, compared to those born in the 1990s?who are also grouped into the same MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z)?it was more than 200,000 fewer. It only appeared somewhat prominent due to a temporary rebound; in reality, the number of births in 2007 was not high. In that sense, it is appropriate to include 2007 in the large category of ‘low birthrate,’ just like today.

To drastically reverse the recent trend where low birthrate, which even the Golden Pig Year could not escape, has worsened into a population cliff, extraordinary measures are needed. The population policies implemented so far are not enough. The fact that 320 trillion won was poured into low birthrate countermeasures from 2006 to 2021, yet last year’s total fertility rate was 0.78?the lowest among 38 OECD countries?proves this. How serious it is can be seen in the warning from world-renowned demographer Professor David Coleman, who cautioned that Korea could disappear by the year 2750.

Recently, the government pulled out the immigration expansion card to prevent population decline caused by low birthrate, but this is not a fundamental solution either. Immigration is like a unicycle?it is prone to falling. Ultimately, a rebound in the birthrate must be supported, and I would like to suggest three practical measures to achieve this.

First, birth support policies currently focused on women in marital relationships should be expanded to include cohabiting and unmarried births. This is necessary to align with the social atmosphere where cohabiting families are increasing. Institutional measures should also be created to eliminate social prejudice against children from cohabiting or unmarried families. For example, France’s policy of ‘not discriminating against out-of-wedlock births’ played a significant role in making it the EU member country with the highest total fertility rate.

Second, the current multi-child support policy should be abolished. Since the social atmosphere is predominantly one where people do not want to have even one child, offering benefits to families with a second or third child has little meaning. Support for the first child should be the starting point of birth encouragement policies to foster the willingness to have children.

Third, support for the infertile population must be dramatically increased. The scope of support for infertile people who want to have children should be expanded beyond couples to include young people planning to have children, and various hurdles such as income criteria should be removed. This is necessary to keep up with the trend of late marriage and unmarried lifestyles, as more unmarried women are showing interest in egg freezing procedures to prevent infertility. Professor Coleman’s bleak forecast?the prelude to ‘national extinction’?has begun. Despite the medical school boom, pediatric and obstetrics clinics are closing one after another, and more daycare centers are changing their signs to nursing homes. There is no time to be complacent anymore.

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