By Choi Sung-jin
One in three Koreans in their 20s and two out of three in their 30s have no plans for having children, a survey showed Thursday. More than half of those in their 20s said financial burdens stand in the way.
This is part of the results of the survey of 5,018 households in 2015 by Statistics Korea and the Korea Women’s Development Institute, at the request of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. They have conducted the survey every five years since 2005.
The largest number of respondents, 60.2 percent, said they would have two children.
But 33.8 percent of respondents in their 20s, 68.3 percent of people in their 30s and 98.5 percent in their 40s said they do not have any plans to have children. About 52 percent of negative respondents in their 20s and 37.3 percent of those in their 30s cited financial burdens as reasons for not having children.
If the state supports their bearing and rearing children, however, 37.5 percent of 20-somethings and 33.2 percent of 30-somethings said they would have children.
“The latest survey, which is the official national statistics, indicated young people unequivocally cite financial reasons for not having children,” said Kang Eun-hee, minister of gender equality and family. “The government will cooperate with other agencies to raise the birthrate by, for instance, lessening costs for housing and childcare as well as helping them maintain the balance between work and family.”
Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed, or 65.4 percent, said they spend less than an hour communicating with their spouses, sharply higher than the 57.4 percent five years ago. Moreover, 30.9 percent, compared with 17.5 percent in 2010, said they have less than 30 minutes of talk, or “none at all.” The share of respondents satisfied with their spouses also fell to 51.2 percent, from 56.9 percent five years ago. About 56 percent of men were satisfied with their wives but only 46.2 percent of women were content with their husbands. To resolve conflicts between couples, 45.9 percent said they just suffer in silence and only 28.7 percent tried talking.
Nearly 37 percent of elementary schoolchildren are home alone after school. About 17 percent spend an hour by themselves, 10.3 percent spend two hours alone, and 4.3 percent do so for four hours a day, the survey showed.