SW News: The South Korean government is struggling to improve its fertility rate, which continues to be the lowest in the world. The most recent data indicates 0.78 births per woman.

The government has instituted initiatives to promote childbearing in an effort to solve its demographic issue caused by a fast aging society and dropping birth rates. However, it appears that these actions have not yet significantly improved the fertility rate.

Ten years have passed since South Korea's fertility rate, or the number of children born to a woman while she is fertile, fell below 1.1. Statistics Korea said the current value is 0.78, and a short-term fall to 0.7 is predicted.

Experts point out many reasons for the alarming trend. More youngsters are choosing to put off having children or to give up trying entirely. Some women claim they prefer to prioritize their personal freedom and have given up on finding a spouse, while others point to the expensive expense of raising children, dismal career prospects in the midst of an economic slump, and rising real estate prices.

The current Yoon Suk Yeol administration has drafted a wide-ranging policy including increasing stipend given to parents with a child of up to 1-year-old to housing support for the newly-weds, and creating a new visa category to bring in more foreign workers.

In South Korea, the National Assembly Budget Office's report, which was published in January, found that the fall in marriages was responsible for 76% of the decline in births.

Two pillars of the country's budget for tackling the low birthrate are housing support and encouraging a family-friendly atmosphere. According to Statistics Korea, 249,000 babies were born in 2022, down 4.4% from the previous year. This marks the third consecutive year that deaths outnumbered births in Asia's fourth-largest economy.

The birth rate fell to record low undermining government initiatives to encourage couples to have more children. Population density fell for the first time on record in 2021 and is predicted to fall to 38 million by 2070. The number of marriages in South Korea reached an all-time low of 193,000 in 2021.