The South Korean population is falling, but is that necessarily a bad thing?
New data shows there was a 4.4 per cent fall in the birth rate in 2022, with women now expected to have an average 0.78 children, making South Korea the only country in the world with a fertility rate below one. The general consensus is the fertility rate needs to be at least 2.1 to keep a population stable.
The figures are being attributed to women’s financial independence, gender roles in marriage (women no longer find taking on all the domestic responsibilities as well as working appealing), the cost of living and many couples marrying later in life.
The government has been throwing money at the problem, but with little success.
An obvious solution would be to allow more immigration, a move that has met resistance from many conservatives in the country.
Is the South Korean population doing what the government can’t? By that I mean facing up to the fact that we are eventually going to run out of space and resources?
Do you think falling birthrates are a plus or minus in today’s society?
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