In South Korea, world's lowest fertility rate plunges again in 2023
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00:00 It was already the country with the world's lowest birth rate. But South Korea's fertility
00:05 rate has plunged to a record low according to the country's official data, further deepening
00:11 its demographic crisis.
00:14 There were 230,000 births in 2023, a decrease of 7.7 percent from the year before. The total
00:21 fertility rate recorded during a woman's reproductive life was 0.72, down from 0.78 the previous
00:27 year.
00:29 A fertility rate of 0.72 is far below the 2.1 per woman needed for South Korea to maintain
00:36 a steady population, with the country's 51 million population size on track to halve
00:41 by the end of this century, and puts pressure on health services due to an ageing population.
00:47 The new data defies the billions of dollars in government schemes since 2006 to try and
00:52 reverse the long-time trend and persuade people to have more children. But South Koreans in
00:57 their 20s and 30s point to soaring property prices, skyrocketing child-rearing costs and
01:02 career advancement worries as factors that delay or halt their family planning.
01:08 In the current work environment, women can't just leave the office whenever they want to
01:11 take care of their sick children. I think this is the biggest reason why young people
01:16 aren't having kids.
01:19 It would be better if the government provided financial support as women could face financial
01:23 difficulties due to a career break after giving birth.
01:28 It's not the only country in the region struggling with its population growth. Neighbouring Japan
01:32 also announced this week that the number of babies born last year had fallen for the eighth
01:37 straight year.
01:38 [BLANK_AUDIO]