More couples in Korea are having kids than Japan — but stop at first child

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More couples in Korea are having kids than Japan — but stop at first child

Published: 14 May. 2025, 11:45 Updated: 14 May. 2025, 20:07

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

A parent and their child go to a day care center in Seoul on Feb. 11. [NEWS1]

With marriage and childbirth coming later for Koreans, many are hitting the brakes after baby number one — fueling the world’s lowest fertility rate and reshaping the country’s demographic future.

In a sharp contrast with neighboring Japan, a higher share of Korean couples have children, yet Korea’s overall birthrate remains lower.

At 44, a working mother who had her first child at 36 briefly considered having a second child earlier this year.

But the thought didn’t last. She had married and given birth later than most, and now holds a managerial position at work, making it hard to balance parenting and career advancement.

“I was worried about whether I could have a healthy delivery and still continue my career,” she said.

More Koreans are making similar decisions. While many in Japan go on to have second and third children after their first, an increasing number of Koreans, like the 44-year-old worker, stop at one. Korea’s share of third-born or later children now stands at about half the level of Japan’s.

Only 8 percent of Korean births in 2022 were third children or beyond, the lowest among Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries, according to the organization’s latest “Society at a Glance: Asia/Pacific 2025” biennial report. In contrast, the share in Japan was 17 percent.

Recent figures from Statistics Korea show that the share dropped even further in 2023 to 7.5 percent. And for the first time, more than 60 percent of babies born in Korea were firstborns.

Medical staff take care of newborns at a hospital in Michuhol District, Incheon, on Feb. 26. [YONHAP]

Experts cite late marriage as a key reason fewer Koreans go on to have a second or third child. In 2024, the average age for first-time grooms was 33.9 and for brides, 31.6. That’s a delay of about 1.44 and 1.74 years, respectively, compared to 2014.

This delay pushes back the timing of the first child, making it harder for couples to consider additional children later. Korean mothers now give birth at an average age of 33.5, the highest among OECD countries, where the average is 30.9.

Paradoxically, Japan has a higher share of women who remain childless. In 2022, 28.3 percent of Japanese women had not given birth by age 50, more than double Korea’s 12.9 percent.

Yet, Japan’s total fertility rate — the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime — was 1.3 in 2022, significantly higher than Korea’s 0.75 in 2024. In other words, while more Japanese women remain childless, those who do have children are more likely to have more than one.

But Korea’s own rate of lifetime childlessness may soon rise sharply. The OECD’s childlessness figures released in February reflect older generations, primarily women born before 1975. Younger generations, including millennials and Gen Z, are already showing some of the world’s lowest fertility rates.

The delay in marriage and childbirth reflects broader shifts in young Koreans’ life paths. Many students spend extra years studying to enter top universities, and even after graduation, many postpone employment to wait for more lucrative job openings.

For those who find jobs, soaring housing prices have made homeownership a distant dream. Each step in life is getting pushed back, and the resulting drop in fertility threatens to shrink the country’s working-age population, raising concerns for long-term economic growth.

Office workers cross the street at an intersection in Jongno District, central Seoul, in 2021. [YONHAP]

Experts say policymakers must address the root causes of these delays.

Choi Seul-gi, a professor at the Korea Development Institute School of Public Policy and Management, stressed the need for support systems that prevent life milestones from being indefinitely postponed.

“The delay in young people’s life paths, including employment, is causing the drop in fertility rates — but if we provide support to prevent these delays, we can partially address the low birthrate,” Choi said.

“We need structural policy solutions to ease the excessive competition and overinvestment that starts as early as university admissions and continues through career-building.”

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY IM SOUNG-BIN [[email protected]]