By Kim Bo-eun
Kim Sae-rom, 29, who has an 18-month-old son, is happy to use hand-me-down baby products.
“I get things from my older sister who gave birth a little earlier, and also from people around me _ and I make good use of them,” she said.
Kim’s tendency reflects a growing trend among mothers these days, which is to reduce unnecessary expenditure when it comes to childcare, according to a report released Monday.
A 2016 report on childcare trends, compiled by the Korea Institute of Childcare and Education, is based on its survey of 1,202 mothers-to-be and mothers with children aged up to nine.
The report showed 93 percent of respondents had used hand-me-downs and 75 percent had purchased second-hand items.
Used items included books, strollers, baby walkers, child seats, clothes, shoes and toys and over 90 percent of mothers were satisfied with them.
Among the respondents, 91.8 percent agreed to “it is desirable to use hand-me-down products for clothing or toys, as the children are in the process of growing.”
The tendency is due to high costs of childcare _ the report shows nine out of 10 parents feel burned by childcare costs.
This is because households spend about a third of their total expenditure on their children. Households of the respondents had an average monthly income of 3.46 million won ($3,000), and spent an average of 1.07 million won of it on childcare.
Major sources of expenditure included fees for babysitting, day care centers and kindergartens, as well as food and private education.
Meanwhile, mothers also found costs of childbirth to be burdensome.
Among 69 percent who had stayed at postnatal care centers, 78.2 percent said the costs posed strains.
Of them, the largest percentage of mothers spent between 1 million to 3 million won for a four-week stay following childbirth.
Kim, who also stayed at a center, said “Postnatal care centers are too expensive. I wish the government would provide more support for childbirth.”
Based on these high childcare costs, 94.6 percent of respondents said this is a major reason behind the low birthrate.
Korea’s birthrate stood at 1.24 in 2015, the lowest among OECD member states.
Among the respondents, 92.8 percent also said couples are not able to sufficiently prepare for retirement due to the high costs of childcare _ which usually lasts until children graduate from college.
While the welfare ministry and local authorities are mainly in charge of providing support, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family aims to foster a culture of reasonable expenditure on childcare.
“We aim to provide various opportunities for parental education which introduce government programs for sharing costs of babysitting and borrowing toys, as well as offer other tips on saving childcare costs,” said Ko Hye-kyoung, a ministry official.