South Korea is facing an immense crisis — and it is taking action.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has announced the creation of a government ministry to tackle the country’s concerningly low birth rate, something he called “a national emergency,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
The new ministry will “establish policies that span education, labor and welfare” to address the problem, Suk-yeol said on May 9.
In his first news conference in nearly two years, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol pledged to tame inflation and create a new ministry to boost the country’s birth rate. pic.twitter.com/JMG5qL3YiS
— South China Morning Post (@SCMPNews) May 10, 2024
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South Korea saw a 0.72 fertility rate in 2023, among the lowest in the world and far below the 2.1 that is required to maintain the Asian country’s population, according to the Times. The fertility rate is the number of children a woman is expected to have over her lifetime, on average.
Just 230,000 babies were born last year in the country, which has a population of 50 million.
Other Asian countries face similar issues. Japan had a record-low fertility rate of 1.26 in 2022 and had only 758,631 births in 2023, the lowest total since 1899, according to the Michigan Journal of Economics.
Can declining national birth rates be reversed?
Different issues are at play in these countries, and no simple solution presents itself.
South Korea has spent more than $200 billion over the past 16 years to address the declining birth rate with no success. Initiatives have included extended paid paternity leave, social campaigns encouraging male participation in child care and housework, and even “baby vouchers” that offer monetary incentives.
🇰🇷 South Korea birth rate
2023: 0.72
2022: 0.78
2020: 0.84
2017: 1.05
2010: 1.23
2000: 1.48Note: the rate of 2.1 per woman needed for a steady population
— World of Statistics (@stats_feed) February 29, 2024
Declining birth rates are a problem across much of the Western world.
In 2022, the total fertility rate across the European Union was just 1.46 live births per woman, ranging from 1.08 in Malta to 1.79 in France.
The United States has observed a consistent yearly decline since 2014, especially among women ages 20 to 39, and hit a historic low of 1.62 in 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
What is happening in South Korea may very well be the future of America.
Heartbreakingly, while the birth rate sees continual declines, abortions have been on the rise.
The Guttmacher Institute reported that despite new legislation restricting abortion in 2023, the number of unborn babies killed by the practice still managed to reach a decade-high of 1,037,000.
In addition to abortion, the left’s promotion of the LGBT lifestyle also undoubtedly worsens the U.S. birth rate.
While the United States is far from being at the crisis level of South Korea, the writing is on the wall.
Sooner or later, this issue will be at America’s doorstep.
Leaders can wait until it’s a crisis and drastic measures need to be taken, or they can begin to take steps to ensure the American population is here to stay.
