According to a domestic media report citing Korean media, on the 21st of this month, South Korean Prime Minister Han Deok-soo came to a small village in Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea, to attend a birthday party for a baby named Jin Lu, and personally delivered a congratulatory speech.
In fact, this little baby is just an ordinary child in rural South Korea. As for why her birthday party alarmed the Prime Minister of South Korea, it is mainly because she is the first newborn in this small village in three years.
The birth of this child means that the number of local newborns has exceeded the past three years. Although she is the only one, it has exceeded...
(birthday party scene, picture from ifeng.com)
In fact, this is also a common topic that everyone talks about recently. In recent years, the birth rate in South Korea has repeatedly hit the bottom.
According to data released by the Korean Statistics Office on the 27th, South Korea’s birth population in January this year was 21,442, which was the first time in more than 10 months that the population in a single month has risen to more than 20,000.
But this does not mean that South Korea’s fertility rate has improved.
In fact, January is the peak month for births. Compared with the same period last year, the number of births this year has decreased by 7.7% year-on-year, which is also the lowest January since relevant statistics were collected in 1981.
Take a long-term view, Only 230,000 newborns were born in South Korea last year, and is also the lowest level in history...
(Schematic diagram, social workers are taking care of newborn babies)
You can also feel it through some actual cases:
Today, nearly a quarter of South Korea’s primary schools have less than 60 students in total, about one-tenth of primary schools have less than 30 students, the total number of students in the school cannot fit in one class...
( Korean primary schools closed due to insufficient students, picture from The Paper)
On the other hand, according to statistics from a Korean e-commerce company, in 2023, the consumption of pet strollers has exceeded that of baby strollers, and other pet products The quantity is also gradually surpassing that of baby products.
Compared with babies, young people in South Korea prefer pets that are cheaper to raise.
(schematic diagram)
In this case, the Korean government had to find a way, using both coercion and inducement...
Coercion refers to South Korea has linked the development of civil servants with having children.
If grassroots employees have two or more children, they will receive extra points in the promotion evaluation; cadres at all levels who have two or more children when they retire will also have a longer re-employment time.
Incentives are better explained. Nowadays, the Korean government has been giving out money from pregnancy to the time the child goes to school. According to calculations by Korean media, a Korean child can receive a total of 29.6 million won (approximately RMB 160,000) in subsidies from birth to 7 years old.
(schematic diagram)
This is not over yet. Outside the government, some "patriotic businessmen" in South Korea have begun to take the initiative to share the country's worries...
According to reports, Lee Jung-gen, the founder of the Korean construction company booyoung group, said at the company meeting, In order to reverse the low fertility rate, company provides employees with a bonus of 100 million won (537,000 yuan) for every child they have.
Moreover, this money can be traced back. Anyone who has given birth to a child after 2021, regardless of gender, can apply for this bonus.
If you have three children at home and need a larger house to live in, the company will also bear the rent for the employees ; in addition, there are college tuition fees, medical expenses for immediate family members, children's holiday allowances, etc...
This is really a mother's life. (Father) It’s expensive to have a child...
(schematic diagram)
Let’s do the math:
According to statistics, in South Korea, the average monthly expenditure for infants and young children is about 600,000 won (approximately RMB 3,300, which will be discussed later) (converted into RMB), the cost for primary school will increase to 4,300 yuan, and for middle school and high school, this cost will rise to 5,000 yuan.
Judging from this data, a Korean child will spend about 950,000 yuan (RMB) from birth to high school graduation. If all the incentives mentioned above (government and companies) are included, it will be less than 800,000 yuan, which means parents still have to sacrifice their quality of life.
But what’s even more frightening is that 800,000 yuan is not a small amount for most people. Who can guarantee that someone will not “sell reproductive rights”?
Maybe one day, having children will become a business in South Korea. As for how the "commodity" fares in the next few decades, I'm afraid no one will care...
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