Seoul, South Korea’s capital, with the lowest fertility rate in the world, released a survey on Wednesday asking residents if they would support the proposal to pay parents 100 million won in cash ( roughly$ 72,500 ) for every baby their family welcomes.
The survey,  , according , to the , Korea Herald, will ask respondents if knowing they would receive a major cash incentive would make them reconsider their personal family planning and if they believe that the program expense, estimated to be around 22 trillion won ($ 16 billion ), is reasonable.
The concept is just the latest in a growing number of initiatives being proposed in the nation to encourage North Korean couples to consider becoming parents, including a government-approved benefits system that offers parental leave, medical benefits, less expensive mortgages, and another longer-term support for parents.
In January, the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare , debuted , a large set of benefits for parents that included a similar upfront cash bonus, but only worth 2 million won ( about$ 1, 500 ). The new initiative also included a “monthly salary” for parents of children under the age of one, which is the equivalent of$ 728, and a program that is half as generous for those with children between one and two.
South Korea , logged , a delivery charge of 0.72 children per woman of childbearing years in 2023, the country’s lowest price for a , tenth , time in a row. Experts consider a 2.1 beginning level, or each woman of childbearing age having about 2.1 children in her life, “replacement fertility”, or the price at which the entire population of a country will remain intact. A level of 1.3 and above is considered “very low”.
In South Korea, there were almost eight percent fewer children born in 2023 than there were the previous month.
Child protection seating displayed for sale at Mom &, Baby Expo in Ilsan, South Korea, on Saturday, March 2, 2024. As the country’s aging demographics have an impact on its health system, social security, and economic progress, South Korea set a new record for the lowest fertility rate next month. ( Jean Chung/Bloomberg via Getty )
In Seoul, the most recent studies have found the delivery price to hover at around 0.55 children , per person.
South Koreans are having children at a far lower price than people in every other country on earth, despite some of the nations with the highest fertility rates being fiscally challenged due to difficulties with prices, housing costs, and additional financial issues frequently appearing as an argument for this. South Korea is even battling a growing anti- child culture:” no- kid zones” have become a cool way for businesses– quite as cafes, restaurants, yet public libraries – to keep children out of society, making life more difficult for parents.
The conservative government of President Yoon Suk-yeol has prioritized top-down initiatives that encourage the formation of families in response to the low birth rate. Local governments, such as Seoul’s, have put forwarded their innovative plans to boost the child population in the near future. Even Yoon administration officials have expressed a bleak outlook on the situation, however. In remarks made in December, Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok compared South Korea to the Titanic.
” A ship like the Titanic has no choice but to crash by the time it discovers a reef”, Choi , lamented.
The$ 72,500 bonus, which was included in the survey that was launched in Seoul on Wednesday, would go along with the other benefits for Seoul parents, as reported by the , Korea Herald:” Currently, Korean parents with a child receive a sum ranging from 35 million won to 50 million won through various incentives and support programs until the child reaches the age of 7.”
Seoul officials also announced on Monday that it would offer a parental leave program funded by the government to freelancers and self-employed workers, which includes a sizable number of small business owners, with the intention of including all women in this category.
” The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Monday that it will provide 900, 000 won ($ 652 ) in paid leave to pregnant self- employed individuals and freelancers”, the , Korea JoongAng Daily , reported,  , “making it the first locality to adopt such a measure for independent employees.  , Self- employed and freelance workers with pregnant wives will also receive 800, 000 won in paid leave”.
The newspaper noted that over 800, 000 people in Seoul are self- employed, running cafes, restaurants, and other small businesses.
” Self- employed individuals and freelancers who are experiencing the joyful moment of birth under such challenging conditions are the true heroes of our time” , , JoongAng , quoted the mayor of Seoul, Oh Se- hoon, as saying.
The lump- sum bonus Seoul is considering is an idea it apparently borrowed from a private corporation: the building company Booyoung Group, which , announced , in February it would offer the same sum, 100 million won, to employees for every birth occurring while they work there.
” With the current pace of declining birth rate, the country is expected to be at risk of extinction 20 years from now”, the chairman of Booyoung, Lee Joong- keun, said in February, announcing the program. The company has implemented “unprecedented” incentives for employee families to help them balance their financial strains and difficulties with work and life.
” Booyoung has delivered a combined 7 billion won to 70 employees, either man or woman, who had one child or more since January 2021, the company said in a statement”, the Yonhap News Agency reported at the time.
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