Korea Looks to French Model As Birth Rate Falls

Jeon Jae-hee
Health Minister

By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter

Minister of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs Jeon Jae-hee is looking seriously at France's family-friendly policies as a solution to the nation's falling birth rates.

Jeon expressed interest in the French model after the National Statistical Office announced that the nation's total fertility rate, referring to the number of children born per woman aged 15 to 49, dropped to 1.19 last year.

The figure, which is one of the lowest among member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECS), is well below what's needed to secure generation replacement.

``If the current trend goes on, the nation will end up being unable to provide adequate social services in the future,'' said Jeon.

Threats are evident since some businesses have suffered the deleterious effects of the low fertility rate in their sales.

Agabang & Company, an infant and toddler products manufacturer, has overhauled its business structure since 2000 to cope with the falling rate.

The number of infants in 2000 totaled about 630,000 but sharply plunged to roughly 430,000 in five years.

The shrinking domestic market has led management to look at overseas markets to make up for the business losses, and the outward-looking strategy helped its sales get back on the right track. Exports accounted for approximately 30 percent of Agabang's revenue in 2006.

Namyang, a leading local dairy product producer, managed to survive the tough business environment after aggressively looking for offshore markets such as Vietnam and China since 2003.

Since taking office last August, Health Minister Jeon has put top policy priority on combating the falling fertility rate. She had been committed to mapping out effective work and family policy aimed at providing state-sponsored day care facilities and bold subsidies to couples having children, following the French model.

France achieved the second highest fertility rate in Europe, with 1.94 children born per woman in 2006. The government has subsidized children and families from pregnancy to young adulthood through maternity leave and part-time work for women.

The country, one of the first European countries that faced a declining population, had 830,000 new babies in 2006, its highest annual total since 1981.

According to health ministry officials, Korea will be required to set aside approximately 19 trillion won (about $12.5 billion) to fulfill Jeon's commitment, which, they admit, will be very challenging, especially during the deepening economic downturn.

The question is if the French model will be helpful in improving the birthrate here.

Lee Sam-sik, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, told The Korea Times that Korea has no other choice but to benchmark the French style of reconciliation of work and family.

``Under the current scheme, only low-income families can access state-sponsored programs and the subsidies available are very limited,'' said Lee.

``To properly handle the falling fertility rates, more families should be eligible for more subsidies and larger benefits than current levels. Given the reality, it is necessary for the government to benchmark the French model,'' the expert added.

A Norwegian expert, however, observed that high birthrates arise from a combination of steady economic growth and government-sponsored supportive family policies, indicating family policy alone may not necessarily help.

Marit Ronsen, a senior researcher with Statistics Norway, said in an interview with BBC that Sweden's family policies were as generous as those of Norway but its birthrate has not improved.

Norway, along with Ireland, has among the highest birthrates in Europe.

``In economically insecure times, people tend to postpone having children,'' she said.

Ronsen indicated that Norway's steady economic growth since the 1990s probably also encouraged its couples to have more children.

hkang@koreatimes.co.kr

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