China, South Korea battle population woes as ‘children are not a must’, adding to economic peril

South Korea’s fertility rate fell to a record low of 0.81 last year, increasing the pressures faced by its economy due to an already rapidly ageing population

China’s fertility rate is estimated to have fallen to 1.15 in 2021, also adding to its problems of a tumbling number of births and an ageing population

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South Korea and China face similar fundamental problems that are deterring people from having children – a tough job market and expensive housing costs. Illustration: Henry Wong

Published: 6:00am, 24 Jun 2022

Japan has long been the poster boy for population crisis, but South Korea’s fertility rate is now one of the lowest in the world, and China’s is not much better.

Last year, in a nation of over 51 million people, the average number of children a woman in South Korea was expected to give birth to in her lifetime sat at 0.81 – the lowest since Statistics Korea began compiling related data in 1970 when the figure stood at 4.53 and down from over 2 in 1983.

According to an estimate from a team of demographers, including Liang Jianzhang, Ren Zeping and He Yafu, as China did not release an official figure last year, for China’s population of 1.4126 billion, the fertility rate in 2021 was 1.15, down from an official figure of 1.3 a year earlier.

Economies faced with an ageing population are paying close attention to fertility rates as they reflect a trend that enables governments to make projections for longer-term changes in population.

My husband says having children will limit life choices

Han Jia

Lower fertility rates are expected in developed countries due to things like wealth, education and urbanisation, while the figure in undeveloped countries tends to be higher as families seek labour to earn money and carers for their parents in old age.

In stark contrast to South Korea and China, the landlocked country of Niger in North Africa – which is one of the least developed countries in the world – had one of the highest fertility rates last year with an average of close to 7.