What the Ministry of Population must do

Lee Hyun-hoon
The author is a professor of international trade at Kangwon National University and head of the Fourth Way Institute.

The governing People Power Party (PPP) and the majority Democratic Party (DP) have announced measures to combat Korea’s low birthrate as the general election nears. Among the promises, one stood out. The PPP wants to create the Ministry of Population with a deputy prime ministerial-level head, while the DP promises to install a Ministry of Population Crisis Response to oversee population-related issues. I welcome the news, as I have been advocating for a deputy prime minister-level population ministry to oversee our birth and aging issues since 2017, when the proportion of citizens 65 and older exceeded 14 percent.

However, it is regrettable that the pledges do not include the objectives, functions and major policies of the proposed ministry. Above all, neither party has a specific goal for the total fertility rate. In 2005, Korea enacted the Basic Act on Low Births and Ageing Society and established the Presidential Committee on Ageing Society and Population Policy directly under the President.

The committee set a fertility rate target upon its launch. The Third Basic Plan for Ageing Society and Population Policy explicitly targeted a 2020 fertility rate of 1.5. At that time, Japan set the “hopeful fertility rate” at 1.8 in 2020. The Moon Jae-in government has eliminated that target, however, after critics claimed that it viewed women as tools. It instead pursued a “happy country to work and raise children” by “improving the quality of life.”

Improving quality of life and creating a happy country is a goal that any government must pursue. But this cannot solve the problem of low birth rates. And because of the vagueness of the goal, the fertility rate fell sharply from 1.17 in 2016 to 0.78 in 2022.

Both parties must present specific policy goals for the fertility rate and aging population and clearly propose major policies that the to-be-established ministry will pursue.

According to the joint JoongAng Ilbo and STI survey conducted last March, 27.4 percent of respondents said that childcare costs were behind the fertility decline. Causes like job instability (20.7 percent) and housing instability (19.9 percent) followed. Other factors included the burden of childcare roles (11.9 percent), gender role inequality (5.7 percent), and career advancement (five percent). The factors related to the burdens that work and childcare place on women total 22.6 percent.

In other words, the main factors behind the decline in fertility can be divided into four categories: childcare expenses, job insecurity, housing instability and work. The Ministry of Population should become a comprehensive entity that identifies and addresses these four factors to increase the fertility rate and slow the aging of the population. The ministry should integrate all works, manpower and budgets related to fertility and aging, which are currently spread out across the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. If possible, a new deputy prime minister-level position should be created to efficiently coordinate these policies among all ministries.

In addition, the birthrate policy has been promoted not only sporadically by various ministries, but also by local governments, as if in competition. The birthrate problem is not limited to a specific region; it is a national disaster. Nevertheless, the central government has been neglecting its desperate mission and has promoted the policy in a disorganized manner.

Moreover, the average only 43 percent of regional governments were financially independent in 2023. Consequently, they have been playing a zero-sum game to increase the low fertility rate with the subsidies from the central government. The Ministry of Population must absorb the low birth policies of these local governments.

Finally, the body’s name must be adjusted. It could be the “Ministry of Population and Family” to continue the positive mission of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. I hope that this will create an opportunity for the governing and opposition parties to collaborate, as well as the many generations of men and women.

Population problem can be solved only when everyone works together as one team, regardless of political interests and party politics. Only then can we create a country where everyone is happy.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.