ttompatz

Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 7:28 pm Post subject: Re: Koreans and Kids |
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crazylemongirl wrote: |
One thing that I've been trying to rack my brains around here is that while marriage and family seems to be so important here (huge pressure to get married/have kids) that the Korean birth rate is so low (see here)
Are Korean woman just having one? Or divorcing before they have kids? |
They marry, have 1.16 kids and quit because raising kids is so expensive here that most can't afford it.
For example:
20k won for a can of formula,
30k won for a one piece sleeper (with feet and sleeves),
6k for 3 smallish jars of prepared baby food (most young Korean girls can't cook),
20k (or more) per week for diapers (service or disposable),
400k per month for preschool so your kidlet can learn English
500k+ per month for the English kindergarten
300k+ per month for hakwons after they start school,
And those costs are PER CHILD.
Toss in the VERY HIGH cost of housing (unless it is the oldest son - he will live with his parents until they die) and the birthrate won't be rising any time soon. They will continue to import foreign brides for the farmers and fishermen and 3rd world labor for the DDD jobs. |
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