Already having the lowest fertility rate in the world, South Korea’s rate plunged even lower in 2023 as women chose to put off or abstain from having children out of fear for their future professional prospects and the financial burden of maintaining a family.
According to data released by Statistics Korea on Wednesday, the average number of children that a South Korean woman should have during her reproductive years dropped to a historic low of 0.72 from 0.78 in 2022.
That is far less than the 2.1 per woman required for a stable population and much less than the 1.24 rate in 2015, when concerns about things like housing and education costs were reduced.
Despite spending billions of dollars trying to stop the trend that would cause the population to decrease for a fourth consecutive year in 2023, South Korea has been the only member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) with a rate below 1. This distinction has existed since 2018.
Due to the fact that women in South Korea earn around two-thirds less than males, the country also has the worst gender pay gap in the OECD.
According to earlier projections, South Korea’s fertility rate is expected to decline even more, to 0.68 in 2024. With the highest housing prices in the nation, Seoul, the capital, has the lowest fertility rate (0.55).
