What did Koreans say was their ideal number of children in the government survey?

Seventy-one percent of respondents said two or more children was ideal. The average ideal number came to 1.76 children.

Why did many Koreans say they would have fewer children than their ideal number?

Every respondent who had fewer children than ideal pointed to costs as a key reason. Another 40.4 percent said balancing work and childcare was difficult.

How large was the gap between ideal and expected family size in the survey?

The average actual or expected number of children was 1.07, far below the 1.76 average ideal number. Slightly over a quarter of respondents said they had or expected to have zero children.

Study shows gap between ideal, actual number of children among Koreans

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Summary

A survey by the Presidential Committee on Ageing Society and Population Policy found that most Koreans consider two or more children ideal, but far fewer expect to have that many. The gap was tied mainly to financial burdens and childcare-work balance. The average ideal number of children was 1.76, while the actual or expected number was 1.07.

Key Facts

The survey was conducted from Nov. 3 to 14 last year on 1,000 men and women aged 20 to 49.
Seventy-one percent of respondents chose two or more children as their ideal number.
When asked about actual or planned children, 44.9 percent said one child, 27.1 percent said two, and slightly over a quarter said zero.
Every respondent who reported fewer children than ideal cited costs as a key reason, and 40.4 percent pointed to difficulty balancing work and childcare.
Among those with more children than their ideal number, 37.5 percent cited strong family support and 22.5 percent cited favorable work-life balance.

By Yonhap

Published Aug 9, 2026 10:02 am KST

Nurses take care of newborn babies at a hospital in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, May 28. Yonhap

About seven out of 10 Koreans regard having at least two children as ideal but many end up having just one due to financial burdens and other factors, a study showed Sunday.

According to a survey by the Presidential Committee on Ageing Society and Population Policy, 71 percent of respondents chose two or more as their ideal number of children.

The survey was conducted from Nov. 3 to 14 last year on 1,000 men and women between ages of 20 and 49.

When asked about the actual number of children they had or planned to have, 44.9 percent said one, with 27.1 percent responding two. Slightly over a quarter of them said zero.

On average, the ideal number of children came to 1.76 but the actual or expected number of children amounted to 1.07.

Permitted to pick multiple answers, every respondent who reported having fewer children than the ideal number cited costs as a key reason, while 40.4 percent pointed to challenges in balancing work and childcare.

On the flip side, people who had more children than their ideal number noted strong family support (37.5 percent) as the reason, followed by favorable work-life balance (22.5 percent).

"Basically, financial factors play a major role in childbirths, and additional births are increasingly affected by other complex factors such as policy support, childcare burden and career continuity," the committee's report said.

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