韓国の出生率、０．７２で過去最低を更新

【ソウルＡＦＰ＝時事】韓国統計庁は２８日、２０２３年の「合計特殊出生率（１人の女性が生涯に産む子どもの推定人数）」の暫定値が０．７２となり、過去最低を更新したと発表した。（写真は資料写真）
　統計庁担当者によると、２０２３年の新生児は前年比７．７％減の２３万人。
経済協力開発機構加盟国の中で見ると、出生率は最低水準なのに対し、女性の平均出産年齢は３３．６歳で最高水準にあると指摘した。
　米保健指標評価研究所によれば、今のペースが続けば、韓国の人口は２１００年までにほぼ半減し、２６８０万人になる。
　韓国政府は少子化対策として数十兆円を投じ、給付金、ベビーシッターサービス、不妊治療支援などを提供してきたが、少子化に歯止めはかかっていない。
　専門家は韓国の出生率が低い要因として、育児費用の高さと住宅価格の高騰の他、過酷な競争社会で高収入の仕事を確保するのが難しく、さらに、ワーキングマザーが家事と育児をこなしながらキャリアを維持するのが大変な点を挙げている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/02/28-18:09）

South Korea's birth rate fell to a record low last year, the government said Wednesday, despite having poured billions of dollars into efforts to encourage women to have more children and maintain population stability.
The country has one of the world's longest life expectancies and lowest birth rates, a combination that presents a looming demographic challenge.
Neighbouring Japan is grappling with the same issue, and on Tuesday the fast-ageing nation announced that the number of births there had also dropped to a new low in 2023.
South Korea's fertility rate -? the number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime -? dropped to 0.72 in 2023, down nearly eight percent from 2022, according to preliminary data from Statistics Korea.
This is far below the 2.1 children needed to maintain the current population of 51 million, which at these rates will nearly halve by the year 2100, experts estimate.
The government has spent vast amounts on trying to encourage more babies, offering cash subsidies, babysitting services and support for infertility treatment.
But the birth rate has continued its chronic decline.
The number of newborns, birth rates, and crude birth rates (newborns per 1,000 people) are all at the lowest point since 1970 when data collection began, said Lim Young-il, head of the Population Census Division at Statistics Korea.
Lim told reporters that South Korea's 0.72 birth rate is the lowest among OECD nations, while the average age to give birth is 33.6, the highest in the OECD.
- Career 'sacrifice' -
Experts say multiple factors, from high child-rearing costs to a notoriously competitive society that makes well-paid jobs difficult to secure, are behind low birth rates.
The double burden for working mothers of carrying out the brunt of household chores and childcare while also maintaining their careers is another key factor.
Having witnessed so many mothers around me give up their careers, I have decided not to follow the path to motherhood, a 37-year-old office worker, who asked to be identified by her surname Jeon, told AFP.
Jeon, who has been married for four years, said the country's rigid corporate culture was a primary reason for her decision, with greater flexibility at work more important than government subsidies.
Raising a child is not possible without sacrificing the career of one parent in this environment, she said.
Many developed countries are struggling with low birth rates, but the issue is also particularly acute in Japan, which has the world's second-oldest population after Monaco.
Births in Japan dropped to a new low in 2023, government data showed Tuesday, with the country recording more than twice as many deaths as new babies.
The nation is facing growing labour shortages, and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has vowed policies including financial aid for families, easier childcare access and more parental leave.
Births in 2023 fell for the eighth consecutive year to 758,631, a drop of 5.1 percent, preliminary data showed. The number of deaths stood at 1,590,503.
Echoing similar warnings made previously by Kishida, ruling-party lawmaker Goshi Hosono on Wednesday called the low birth rate a national threat.
If the situation is left alone, the economy will lose its vitality and social security will become difficult to maintain, he said.