appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Bloomberg

South Korea expects its record-low fertility rate to plumb new depths annually for a few more years, worsening its demographic challenges.
The number of babies expected per woman probably dropped this year to 0.72 and will continue to fall through 2025, when it is expected to reach 0.65, the statistical office said on Thursday in its latest population forecasts.
South Korea already has the world’s lowest fertility rate at 0.78 as of 2022.
The projections paint a darker picture of demographic trends for South Korea than they did two years ago, when authorities forecast that the fertility rate would bottom out at 0.7 in 2024 before rising again.
Armed conflict between North, South Korea ‘just a matter of time’, experts say
Low fertility threatens to undermine South Korea’s economic future by shrinking its workforce and slowing consumption. It also casts a long shadow over national security by reducing the pool of men available to join the military to counter threats from North Korea.
Earlier this month, finance minister nominee Choi Sang-mok likened the dangers of South Korea’s demographics to the iceberg that sank the Titanic, saying it is already too late to reverse the trend simply via fertility rates.
So far the government has focused on birth rates. Measures introduced to encourage more births include a tripling of monthly allowances and a reduction of mortgage interest rates for parents. Policymakers are now looking for ways to cope with the ageing society, coming to grips with the reality that it would take decades to reverse the demographic trend.
Low pay, no future, fewer babies: paediatricians in South Korea are vanishing
The latest forecast by Statistics Korea puts the population in 2072 at 36.2 million, a 30 per cent decline from the current 51.7 million, even though the fertility rate may recover a bit to 0.68 in 2026. The population is expected to fall every year starting in 2025.
A variety of factors are blamed for Koreans’ reluctance to have kids, ranging from the high costs of housing to the competitive environment for children’s education. Increasing gender tensions are another reason regularly highlighted.


South Korea and Japan eye military logistics pact. Should China be wary?

US general’s ‘dagger’ remark tests South Korea’s China balancing act

From property to portfolios: Asia’s families rethink inheritance investments

‘We are a small country’: why Malaysia is resisting US defence spending call

South Korea

South Korea’s already world’s lowest fertility rate is set to fall again in next few years - ‘like the Titanic’

A pediatrician treats a baby as his mother looks on at a clinic in Seoul on June 14. Photo: Reuters

Seoul urged to keep inter-Korean military pact as tensions soar: ‘it’s a safety pin for peace’

Activists in Paju, South Korea, prepare to release balloons bearing anti-Kim leaflets on April 15, 2011. Photo: AP 

North Korean defectors release balloons carrying anti-Kim leaflets in Paju on October 10, 2014. Photo: AP 

As South Korea plans dog meat ban, farmers threaten to flood Seoul with 2 million canines

A dog farm in Pyeongtaek. In a rare display of unity, South Korea’s ruling and opposition parties are collaborating on laws to ban dog meat consumption. Photo: AP

A shop selling dog meat at a market in Anyang, South Korea. Photo: Shutterstock

An activist wearing a dog mask holds a banner reading “Ban Dog Eating” during a rally in Seoul in July 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE

Is Yoon silencing South Korean media under the ‘thinly veiled’ guise of fighting ‘fake news’?

South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol. Photo: AFP 

Yoon Chang-hyeon (left), head of the National Union of Media Workers, is interviewed by Park Chan-kyong in Seoul in November 2023. Photo: Handout

Yoon Chang-hyeon (left), head of the National Union of Media Workers, is staging a sit-in in Seoul. Photo: Handout

A television reporter in Seoul. Conservatives are seeking to privatise South Korea’s two 24-hour news channels, YTN and Yonhap News TV. Photo: Shutterstock 

South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol has in recent months targeted his critics. Photo: AFP 

South Korea’s baby crisis is so bad doctors shun paediatrics, leaving parents on edge

A paediatrician performs a medical treatment on a baby at a clinic in Seoul, South Korea. Photo: Reuters

For parents, a shortage of paediatricians can mean long waits for treatment for sick children. Photo: Reuters

News

Asia

East Asia

The fertility rate probably fell this year to 0.72 in South Korea and is projected to drop further to 0.65 in 2025
Low fertility threatens to undermine South Korea’s economic future, with the population expected to fall every year from 2025


The fertility rate probably fell this year to 0.72 in South Korea and is projected to decline further to 0.65 in 2025.


Ageing society