Many adults in South Korea have chosen either not to have children or not to marry. Similar things are happening in other developed countries, but many consider South Korea’s population crisis severe. A South Korean government agency announced in September that the total fertility rate reached 0.81 last year. The total fertility rate is the average number of babies born to each woman in their reproductive years. South Korea’s fertility rate has been the world’s lowest for three years now. The population decreased for the first time in 2021. It raised concerns for severe damage to the economy. Some observers expect labor shortages and high spending on retirement payments as the number of older people increases while the number of taxpayers decreases. President Yoon Suk Yeol has ordered policymakers to find better ways to deal with the problem. The fertility rate, he said, is still decreasing although South Korea spent $210 billion over the past 16 years to increase it. Many young South Koreans say that, unlike their parents and grandparents, they do not feel an obligation to have a family. Reasons some say for not having children include: a difficult job market, costly housing, inequality between the sexes, and social inequality. Some also say the high cost of raising children in a competitive society is a reason. Some women say men expect them to do much of the childcare while they face discrimination at work.
