Over the past two decades, Korea has been experiencing a shifting trend of women having their first child in their 30s rather than their 20s. 60% of the nation’s firstborns are born by women in their 30s, as the average childbearing age slowly creeps upwards.
Korea suffers from a persistent problem of low birth rates and, like Singapore, has an ageing population. Likewise, the government measures to encourage childbirth through subsidy programmes have not had a positive impact as yet.
The population of single, working women has been growing in the nation, and experts believe this is a key contributing factor in the falling birth rates. As they focus on making it in a increasingly competitive economy, these women just have no time for children.
The country’s weak social safety net has also been pinpointed as a culprit for the trend, which will affect the country’s economic competitiveness in the long run, since the workforce of tomorrow will be much smaller.
Experts suggest that the government should improve the overall social environment in the country to be more childbearing-friendly, to offset the various socioeconomic problems that put couples off from having children.