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dmbfan
Joined: 09 Mar 2006
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 Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 5:48 pm Post subject: South Korea struggles with its low birth rate. |
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By Jiyeon Lee - GlobalPost
Published: January 24, 2009 14:47 ET
Updated: January 24, 2009 15:10 ETSEOUL � "Give Birth Without Thought and Keep Living Like a Beggar."
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What sounds like a curse was actually a public campaign slogan used in the 1960s by the South Korean government to curb the then-skyrocketing birth rate.
It was a time when the country was eager to boost its economy and saw the booming population as a drawback. Hence the threatening campaigns.
Today, Seoul is wistfully looking back on those days of population growth, as it tries to tackle a record-low birth rate coupled with a rapidly aging society, a trend that began emerging shortly after the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s. The current cost of raising children continues to drive the low-birth-rate trend: These days, people joke that children are too expensive.
�I don�t even want to think about having two children,� said Park Jin-hee, who has a 7-year-old son. The 32-year-old office worker said many mothers are forced to work to make ends meet, even if they would prefer to stay home with their children.
Park spends roughly 700,000 won (about $503) every month on her only son�s education, in a country where the average office worker can have lunch for 5,000 to 7,000 won (between $3.50 and $5).
With everyone pouring money into their children�s education, it is hard not to do the same, Park said, explaining the pressure people here feel when it comes to kids.
According to a blind survey of 25 mothers whose children attend a kindergarten located in a suburb of Seoul, more than half of the respondents said they believe people choose not to have more children because of the economic burden.
The economic climate is one of the factors that has �especially played a role in people�s delaying or giving up on having children,� according to a report on birth rate trends released this month by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Issues.
In a designated office in the Ministry for Health, Welfare, and Family Affairs, parents can find a range of services, from special tax breaks for families with more than one child to extra vacation days for men whose wives have given birth.
Although the country has seen a slight increase in its fertility rate over the past two years, it still ranks second-lowest in the world, with a rate of 1.2 births per woman, according to the United Nations Population Fund�s (UNDP) State of World Population 2008. The current rate is less than one-fifth that of the 1960s, according to statistics from the health ministry.
The complexities of educating children in a country where students can be seen filing out of cram schools after midnight add to the problem.
�It�s not like the mothers in the old days anymore," said Choi Woo-su, who gave birth to her only son in 2008. "You can�t simply have a baby and think it's enough to just feed the baby well and give him or her a lot of hugs. It�s like you have to think about what needs to be done for the baby, in my case, in its four-month-old stage. Things are so complicated."
Choi and her husband initially planned to have two children. But after having their son, they decided to stop with one. The reason: The 31-year-old mother said they were taken aback by the amount of money raising a child cost. Even though her newborn still has a long way to go until kindergarten, Choi explains having the baby adds an extra 500,000 won (about $360) to the couple�s monthly expenses.
The trend of having just one child has taken root in South Korean society.
�If most were having two or three kids, I�d probably have one more and try my best. But everyone has only one child, and no one says anything about it,� Choi said. �There are so many things you can do these days� I was going to attend baby massage sessions with my son, but I�m pushing it back until it gets warmer because he has a cold right now." |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 6:03 pm Post subject: |
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Cue the "environmentalists" celebrating all the humans who will not befoul the earth.
This problem is really upsetting. And I get emotional about it principally because I was part of the expensive education system that milked these mothers financially dry. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 7:52 pm Post subject: |
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| Kuros wrote: |
Cue the "environmentalists" celebrating all the humans who will not befoul the earth.
This problem is really upsetting. And I get emotional about it principally because I was part of the expensive education system that milked these mothers financially dry. |
Public school is not that expensive.
And if you are talking about hakwons...no one held a gun to their heads and forced them to sign up.
Consumer choice and let the buyer beware. |
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Guri Guy
Joined: 07 Sep 2003
Location: Bamboo Island
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| Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 8:26 pm Post subject: |
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Why get emotional about it? Who cares? It is up to the South Korean government to give more incentives to have more children, make public schools actually worth something so you don't need hagwons and for South Koreans to stand up to the Chaebols who fleece them any way they can.
I'm not holding my breath though... |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 8:43 pm Post subject: |
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| Guri Guy wrote: |
| Why get emotional about it? Who cares? |
Because I give a shit about Korea and Koreans.
Surely you can understand. Just pretend I were expressing concern about Japan, which is in a similar demographic hole. |
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blaseblasphemener
Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Location: There's a voice, keeps on calling me, down the road, that's where I'll always be
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| Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 9:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Kuros wrote: |
| Guri Guy wrote: |
| Why get emotional about it? Who cares? |
Because I give a shit about Korea and Koreans.
Surely you can understand. Just pretend I were expressing concern about Japan, which is in a similar demographic hole. |
Why give a shyt about them when they don't give a shyt about you. That's plain silly. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 11:25 pm Post subject: |
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And if you are talking about hakwons...no one held a gun to their heads and forced them to sign up.
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I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that almost certainly you never had a kid of your own. Most parents want the best for their kid/s and in Korea that means education, education and then more education.
I'd bet anything that if the public schools improved to the best in the world, the parents here would still send their kids to multiple hakwons after hours. It's just the mindset.
Didn't I read somewhere that parents spend about 1/3 of their monthly income on education for the kids? |
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Bigfeet
Joined: 29 May 2008
Location: Grrrrr.....
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| Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2009 12:43 am Post subject: |
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| If it wasn't education, it'd be something else. Birth rates are low across all developed economies, not just South Korea. The only reason the US is growing is because of immigrants and their kids. |
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ontheway
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...
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| Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2009 5:27 am Post subject: |
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Korea is overpopulated, as is much of the world. Korea needs to have a low birthrate for quite a while until the country can level off at a sustainable population level.
It is not true that the low birthrate is a problem for the country economically. It's just that very few people understand economics. Falling birthrates deplete the massive pools of uneducated workers and human cannon fodder that socialist governments depend on. The socialistic ponzi schemes cannot continue. But, Korea will be much better off if the population falls to a much lower level.
To solve the "problems" foreseen by the government, we need only eliminate most of the government itself. These problems are problems for the government, not for the people. They were made by the government, not by the people. The people are doing the right thing, the government is not. To solve the "problems" we must eliminate the government, not regulate the people. Smash the fascist-socialist state and set the people free.
Socialism always fails. Eventually, the market will even determine the appropriate population levels for a region, country or the whole world. Only with a free market can we arrive at the appropriate levels. The pressure that socialist governments feel from "population problems" have the same root cause as the current financial meltdown. That cause is socialism itself.
Environmentalism, population levels, liberty and free markets are all inextricably intertwined. Only liberty and free markets can solve our current problems. |
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Guri Guy
Joined: 07 Sep 2003
Location: Bamboo Island
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| Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2009 6:36 am Post subject: |
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Because I give a shit about Korea and Koreans.
Surely you can understand. Just pretend I were expressing concern about Japan, which is in a similar demographic hole. |
Meh. South Korea is overpopulated as it is. If they wanted more Koreans then they would make a better effort to reunify the country. Otherwise, South Korea is like every other industrialized country. Italy, Germany, Japan, Canada whatever. Canada's birthrate is low but we encourage immigration. Perhaps if South Korea encouraged immigration, their population would go up. Duh! (Of course that would include getting rid of xenophobic, racist mindsets so that will go over like a lead balloon.)
Japan is no different and I am not going to get emotional about that either. It is a natural thing for developed countries. Meh. |
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bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2009 7:43 am Post subject: |
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Fantastic essay, worth repeating.
| ontheway wrote: |
Korea is overpopulated, as is much of the world. Korea needs to have a low birthrate for quite a while until the country can level off at a sustainable population level.
It is not true that the low birthrate is a problem for the country economically. It's just that very few people understand economics. Falling birthrates deplete the massive pools of uneducated workers and human cannon fodder that socialist governments depend on. The socialistic ponzi schemes cannot continue. But, Korea will be much better off if the population falls to a much lower level.
To solve the "problems" foreseen by the government, we need only eliminate most of the government itself. These problems are problems for the government, not for the people. They were made by the government, not by the people. The people are doing the right thing, the government is not. To solve the "problems" we must eliminate the government, not regulate the people. Smash the fascist-socialist state and set the people free.
Socialism always fails. Eventually, the market will even determine the appropriate population levels for a region, country or the whole world. Only with a free market can we arrive at the appropriate levels. The pressure that socialist governments feel from "population problems" have the same root cause as the current financial meltdown. That cause is socialism itself.
Environmentalism, population levels, liberty and free markets are all inextricably intertwined. Only liberty and free markets can solve our current problems. |
Thanks for that. |
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Ilsanman
Joined: 15 Aug 2003
Location: Bucheon, Korea
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| Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2009 8:10 am Post subject: |
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If you didn't do it, someone else would have. No need to feel bad for taking money from idiots.
| Kuros wrote: |
Cue the "environmentalists" celebrating all the humans who will not befoul the earth.
This problem is really upsetting. And I get emotional about it principally because I was part of the expensive education system that milked these mothers financially dry. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2009 9:23 am Post subject: |
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| ontheway wrote: |
Korea is overpopulated, as is much of the world. Korea needs to have a low birthrate for quite a while until the country can level off at a sustainable population level.
It is not true that the low birthrate is a problem for the country economically. It's just that very few people understand economics. Falling birthrates deplete the massive pools of uneducated workers and human cannon fodder that socialist governments depend on. The socialistic ponzi schemes cannot continue. But, Korea will be much better off if the population falls to a much lower level. |
Town A ,Town B, Town C each have 1,000 citizens. All these citizens are married and 25-35 years of age. They each have another 500 existing elderly citizens who will die in 30 years. . Town A has a 1.5 birthrate, and Town B has a 2.5 birthrate, and Town C has a 4.0 birthrate.
In 30 years, Town A will have just under 1,000 soon-to-be-elderly but only 750 25-35 year olds to support them. Town B will have just under 1,000 soon-to-be-elderly but as many as 1,250 25-35 year olds to support them. Town C will have just under 1,000 soon-to-be-elderly but 2,000 25-35 year olds to support them.
Town C may have growth problems, but it has a free workforce to develop and implement the technology needed to transition (lets give them 30 years of progress, and recall that 30 years ago there were no such things as personal computers).
Town A's population did increase: but only from 1,500 to 1,750. However, its worker-to-elderly ratio is a lot worse than it was. Town B is going to be okay, although they will need productivity gains (much from technological advances) for their standard of living to keep up with the dwindling worker-to-elderly ratio.
Right now Korea's birthrate is 1.2, as is Japan's. This is not a stable decline: its a precipitous drop. If Korea's birthrate were 1.8, I wouldn't bother worrying. 1.8 is less than optimal, but it would be okay. But its 1.2. You cannot halve your population like this without making it old and infirm. |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2009 10:04 am Post subject: |
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| blaseblasphemener wrote: |
| Kuros wrote: |
| Guri Guy wrote: |
| Why get emotional about it? Who cares? |
Because I give a shit about Korea and Koreans.
Surely you can understand. Just pretend I were expressing concern about Japan, which is in a similar demographic hole. |
Why give a shyt about them when they don't give a shyt about you. That's plain silly. |
FYI, you can say shit now on Dave's (as illustrated in the post you quoted).
So I assume you no longer live in Korea? If so, well, I pity you. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2009 10:37 am Post subject: |
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Fantastic essay, worth repeating.
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To quote one of my favorite political philosophers: What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is. (The almost immortal Dan Quayle) |
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