Presidential office, PPP discuss proposals to boost birthrate

Social Affairs

Published: 30 Jun. 2024, 18:51

Presidential office, PPP discuss proposals to boost birthrate

Members of the Yoon administration and the conservative People Power Party meet at the prime minister’s residence in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Sunday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The presidential office and conservative People Power Party (PPP) held a meeting on Sunday to discuss legislative proposals intended to boost the country's rock-bottom birthrate.

The meeting took place after President Yoon Suk Yeol said earlier this month that the country faces a national demographic emergency.

Speaking at a press briefing held at the National Assembly on Sunday, PPP spokesman Kwak Kyu-taek said “both the party and government agreed that a vice-ministerial-level agency needs to be established to coordinate policy action regarding the country’s low birthrate and rapidly aging population.”

Kwak said the PPP and government had agreed to push for revisions of both the Government Organization Act, which would allow the establishment of a Ministry of Population Strategy and Planning, and the Framework Act on Low Birthrate in an Aging Society, which authorizes the allocation of funds for policies to reverse declining births, in July.

Kwak said the proposed ministry would be tasked with creating mid- to long-term strategies to boost the country’s shrinking and greying population.

According to data released on Wednesday, Korea recorded its first on-year rebound in the number of births in 19 months in April, but the sustainability of the upward trend remains uncertain, given the significant base effect from last April's unusually sharp decline in births.

The unexpected rebound is attributed to a rise in marriages since August 2022, the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, coupled with the base effect.

Korea's total fertility rate, or the average number of expected births from a woman in her lifetime, fell to an all-time low of 0.76 in the first quarter of the year, far below the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average of 1.59.

It falls short of the 2.1 births per woman needed to keep the country's population at its current 51 million.

The birthrate is projected to drop to another low of 0.68 this year.

In his announcement of a “national emergency” regarding the country’s demographics on June 19, Yoon said "the population crisis caused by the country's ultra-low birthrate is the most fundamental of the various difficulties facing our society currently.”

The president said his government is working to allow for more parental leave, including for fathers. It aims to increase paternity leave rates from the current 6.8 percent to 50 percent within Yoon's five-year term.

Likewise, it aims to increase parental leave pay to 2.5 million won ($1,810) per month for the first three months, up from the current 1.5 million won, to ease the financial burden on parents and make child care leave more accessible.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]