Hello, I am Jun Ji-hye, a reporter at The Korea Times. I primarily cover financial authorities and write articles on a wide range of topics related to finance and capital markets. If you have any information to share, feel free to email me at jjh@koreatimes.co.kr, and I will review it carefully. I am committed to always doing my best to communicate with readers through high-quality articles.
1 in 5 elementary schools has less than 60 students amid low birthrate
An elementary school student walks to school in Seoul, Jan. 3. Yonhap
By Jun Ji-hye
Country urged to increase childrearing incentives
One in five elementary schools across the country has less than 60 students, while one in 10 has less than 30 students, amid the continually falling birthrate, according to statistics released by the Korean Educational Development Institute, Monday.
The institute said that of the 6,175 elementary schools nationwide, the number of the entirety of students was less than 60 in 1,424 schools, or 23.1 percent, last year.
The figure has increased by 2.3 times from 2003 when 610, or 11.2 percent, of the 5,463 schools had less than 60 students.
South Jeolla Province had the largest number of such schools last year at 212, followed by North Gyeongsang Province at 207, North Jeolla Province at 206 and South Chungcheong Province at 177.
In the greater Seoul area, there were 107 such schools in Gyeonggi Province, 17 in Incheon and four in the capital.
The number of elementary schools that had less than 30 students has increased more dramatically by 4.1 times to 584, or 9.5 percent, of the total, compared to 2003 when the figure stood at only 141, or 2.6 percent.
The impact of the declining birthrate is expected to spread to middle and high schools in the near future, as the number of elementary, middle and high school students is forecast to decrease from 5.13 million this year to 4.84 million in 2026, according to data tallied by the Ministry of Education. The number is expected to continue to fall to 4.27 million in 2029.
Korea is struggling with the world’s lowest fertility rate of 0.78 babies born per woman as of 2022. The rate has been down from 0.84 in 2020 and 0.81 in 2021.
Amid a growing sense of crisis over a population decline, the government expanded childbirth incentives, paternity leave benefits and housing welfare programs for families with newborns.
According to the Presidential Committee on Ageing Society and Population Policy, the government offers a total of 29.6 million won ($22,000) as childbirth incentives per child from birth to 7 years of age, under its expanded welfare policy applied from the beginning of this year.
The incentives include 2 million won for a first child, 3 million won for a second child or more and 5 million won for twins, to assist parents in meeting prenatal expenses. The amount increased from 2 million won that had been paid for each child born.
Despite the expanded benefits, the country’s public spending on policies related to family welfare fell behind other member nations of the OECD, according to data released by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
The data showed that Korea’s public spending on family welfare accounted for 1.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), ranking 31st among the 38 OECD members, with their average tallied at 2.1 percent.
Sweden’s fertility rate was 1.67 in 2021, far higher than Korea’s 0.81 in that year, and the European country’s public spending on family welfare accounted for 3.3 percent of its GDP, more the twice Korea’s.
France’s fertility rate was 1.8 and its public spending on family welfare accounted for 2.9 percent of its GDP.
Experts urged the government to dramatically increase its public spending to the level of countries that have higher fertility rates.
“Korea’s low birthrate has reached the serious level and needs an urgent solution,” said Lee In-shil, who heads the Korean Peninsula Population Institute for Future.
“The government should raise its public spending at least to France’s level by, for example, offering more cash bonuses.”