Home > National > Social Affairs

The changing face of child care in Korea

Published: 20 May. 2025, 16:22 Updated: 21 May. 2025, 14:14

Children go to preschool in Seoul on Feb. 11. [NEWS1]

In Korea, toddlers are being enrolled at child care and educational institutions earlier than ever — at just 19.8 months old on average, a new national survey shows.

Meanwhile, monthly child rearing costs have crossed the 1 million won mark ($718) for the first time since the government began tracking them two decades ago.

The Ministry of Education is set to release the results of its 2024 National Child Care Survey on Wednesday. Conducted by the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education, the study surveyed 2,494 households with children aged 0 to 5 and 3,058 child care centers between August and December 2024.

Launched in 2004, the survey is carried out every three years under Article 9 of the Infant Care Act to inform national child care policy.

According to the findings, children first enter institutions like day care centers or kindergartens at an average age of 19.8 months — a sharp drop from the 30-month average recorded in 2009. Analysts attribute the shift to a growing number of working mothers. The employment rate among mothers in surveyed households rose to 64.2 percent, up 10.1 percentage points from three years ago. Working mothers enrolled their children earlier, at an average age of 18.2 months, compared to 22.6 months for nonworking mothers.

Parental leave usage is also on the rise, especially among men. Fathers took parental leave in 9.7 percent of surveyed households, up from 4.5 percent in the previous survey. Of those, 3.6 percent were cases where the father took leave exclusively. Nevertheless, leave taken exclusively by mothers remains far more common in 34.5 percent of homes surveyed.

The average household size for families with young children dropped to 3.5 members in 2024, continuing a steady decline from 3.9 in 2018 and 3.8 in 2021. Researchers cited falling birthrates and fewer multigenerational households as key drivers of the trend toward smaller families.

Meanwhile, the average monthly cost of raising a young child rose to 1.116 million won, up from 976,000 won three years earlier. While inflation is partly to blame, a Ministry of Education official noted that rising household incomes due to increased work force participation among parents should also be considered.

The Ministry of Education said it “will actively pursue a range of policies based on the survey findings to ease the burden on parents and help them balance work and family life — including measures to expand part-time and extended-hours child care, as well as public child care and educational institutions.”

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY LEE HOO-YEON [[email protected]]