Stone has studied global attitudes toward work and found that countries where people place a high importance on work and derive more personal value from their job are associated with lower fertility rates. Success may hinge on changing attitudes about family and work Her cousin said she would rather the government set up more day care centers than give her a couple of hundred dollars a month, which she said is not enough to cover essentials like diapers and food. Ryu recalled a conversation with her older cousin about her struggles to raise two children, 5 and 7 years old, in Seoul. People in their 20s and 30s often say, "I'll have kids once I have my own place," according to Jessica Ryu, a 27-year-old Korean citizen who is pursuing a postdoctoral degree in communications in the U.S.īut with so much competition for an apartment in Seoul - where 18% of South Korea's population is concentrated - young people are finding it difficult to afford a place of their own, and subsequently, start a family. "But dealing with the structural problems that aren't directly related to fertility, that's a big ship to turn around."Īmong the thorniest issues is the lack of affordable housing - particularly in major cities like Seoul that have been drawing growing numbers of young people from the countryside with prospects of better educational and job opportunities. "The child care subsidies, the leaves - these are all things you can visibly see and argue 'Yes, we are making these attempts,'" he said. One problem is that the government's approach is a "Band-Aid solution," said Andrew Yeo, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's Center for East Asia Policy Studies. So why does the fertility rate continue to drop?
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