ASIA/SOUTH KOREA - Fertility rate reverses trend: Church community works to restore hope

Seoul (Agenzia Fides) - The number of newborns and the fertility rate in South Korea are bucking the trend and rising for the first time in nine years of steady decline. According to the 2024 demographic trends, data released by the Korea Institute of Statistics, the number of births last year was 238,300, 8,300 more than the previous year, representing the first increase in the number of births since 2015. The fertility rate, i.e. the number of children a woman has in her lifetime, meanwhile rose to 0.75, an increase of 0.03 compared to the previous year. However, according to the report, Korea's fertility rate is still well below the average of 1.51 for member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). According to the Institute of Statistics, there are three reasons for the increase in the number of births: an increase in the population in the fertile age group, an increase in marriages that have been delayed by the pandemic, and also the beginning of a "cultural" shift in young people's values regarding marriage. Joo Hyung-hwan, vice chairman of the government's Low Birth Rate and Aging Society Committee, which was set up specifically to deal with these phenomena, said, "This year, the number of newborns will increase by 10,000 compared to last year, to about 250,000, and the total fertility rate will be about 0.79," referring to the number of pregnancy and childbirth registrations received at workplaces. "The positive changes are obvious," he said, emphasizing "that this is the result of the joint efforts of not only the government, but also companies and local authorities." To counter the low birth rate, the government plans to expand parental leave for men, increase tax support for companies that excel in balancing work and family life, and require companies to raise awareness among their employees about work-life balance.
In 2024, President Yoon Suk Yeol, currently under impeachment, proposed a new ministry to address the "national demographic crisis," taking a more comprehensive approach that would not only focus on financial support and childcare, but also - as a broad national debate has shown - address the culture so that a balance between work and family can be found. To this end, companies would be encouraged to encourage their employees to become parents. In June 2024, the committee announced a package of "measures to reverse the trend of low birth rates." A change in social practices and the work system could prove crucial in a country where the birth rate has fallen to the lowest in the world over the past decade.
Sociologists have noted that Korean women have prioritized career advancement over marriage or parenthood, and another contributing factor has been the rising cost of housing and living and the cost of raising a child. But now, economists say, the demographic crisis has become the biggest risk to the growth of Asia's fourth-largest economy and its social security system, as the population of 51 million could halve by the end of the century if the trend is not reversed.
Father Oh Seok-jun, head of the Seoul Archdiocese Committee for Life, urged people not to view the low birth rate as "just a matter of numbers," nor as a phenomenon that can be tackled with reproductive technologies, as some claim. It is necessary to "look at the issue from a spiritual and hopeful point of view": "A child is a gift of grace granted by the Lord through the perfect union of love between a man and a woman. This is why the Catholic Church, in its pastoral care with young people and couples, invites them to look to the future with hope." This is an approach that also characterizes the Holy Year under the motto "Pilgrims of Hope." In this context, the Yeokchon-dong parish of the Archdiocese of Seoul held a "Blessing Ceremony for Families with Three or More Children" on February 23 to sensitize couples to the protection of life and to overcome the serious crisis of the low birth rate in Korea. Yuliana Kim Min-jeong, head of the family department in the parish, said: "It was good for the faithful to see how couples with three children live a life of faith and turn to the Lord in these rough times. We hope that their testimony will have a positive influence and give encouragement and hope to young couples." At the level of mentality and social trends, a culture that tends towards individualism and questions the couple relationship must also be overcome. According to the census conducted by the Korea Statistics Institute, the percentage of single-person households in Korea exceeded 35 percent in 2023. In 2000, there were 2.2 million single-person households in the country, in 2015 there were over 5 million, and in 2023 there were 7.8 million. The Catholic Church, especially in the context of pastoral care for young adults, plays an active role in supporting those who, after entering the world of work, choose to live alone and create a "single" household: the aim is to propose to them forms of positive socialization that allow them to open up to others and develop interpersonal relationships, looking at their lives from the perspective of self-giving and not only from the perspective of self-interest. (PA) (Agenzia Fides, 28/2/2025)

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