South Korea Plans New Ministry to Combat Low Birth Rates

• President Yoon Suk Yeol announces plans to establish Ministry of Low Birth Rate Counter Planning to tackle South Korea’s demographic crisis
• Despite extensive government initiatives, South Korea’s birth rate hits record low, prompting President Yoon’s proposal for a dedicated ministry

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol announced on Thursday his intention to establish a new ministry aimed at tackling the country’s persistently low birth rate — currently the lowest in the world — as South Korea grapples with an impending demographic crisis.

In a live address to the nation, President Yoon appealed to the parliament for cooperation in revising the government’s structure to create the Ministry of Low Birth Rate Counter Planning.

Despite substantial investments aimed at encouraging women to have more children and maintaining population stability, South Korea’s birth rate hit a record low last year, according to official data.

The nation faces the dual challenge of having one of the world’s longest life expectancies and lowest birth rates, a situation that poses a significant demographic challenge.

South Korea’s fertility rate plummeted to 0.72 in 2023, marking a nearly eight percent decline from the previous year, based on preliminary data from Statistics Korea released in February. This rate is well below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman needed to sustain the current population of 51 million. At the current trajectory, experts estimate that the population could nearly halve by the year 2100.

South Korea’s birth rate of 0.72 is the lowest among OECD nations, with the average age for childbirth standing at 33.6, the highest in the OECD.

Despite extensive government initiatives, such as cash subsidies, childcare services, and support for infertility treatments, aimed at incentivizing childbirth, the birth rate has continued its downward trend.

President Yoon’s proposal for a ministry dedicated to addressing the birth rate issue precedes his first press conference in almost two years, following his party’s significant defeat in the general elections last month.