[Editorial] A glimmer of hope

It is a pleasant surprise that South Korea's number of newborn babies rose on-year for two months in a row in August, a development that offers a glimmer of hope for the country struggling to resolve its demographic crisis.

Korea has long suffered a dismal birth rate, painting a negative picture of economic health in tandem with the rapidly aging population. But according to data compiled by Statistics Korea, 20,098 babies were born in August, marking a respectable 5.9 percent increase from the same period a year earlier.

The latest data represents the highest growth for August in 12 years, and the August figure comes after the country welcomed 20,601 newborn babies in July, which logged a 7.9 percent jump from a year earlier.

The positive development reflects the increase in marriages from the second half of 2022 through the first half of 2023 after couples pushed back their wedding schedules during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Statistics Korea said the number of couples getting married jumped 20 percent on-year to 17,527 marriages in August. The 20 percent year-on-year increase in the number of marriages marks the highest growth since 1981 when the country began compiling related data on a monthly basis.

The number of newborn babies rose in April and May this year before shrinking in July. But the back-to-back rise in July and August is good enough to encourage policymakers in charge of handling the country’s deepening demographic challenges.

Experts reckon that if the upward monthly trend continues in the coming months, the total number of newborn babies this year might swing to positive territory -- a turnaround that comes after about 10 years.

Of course, it is too early to be overly optimistic. Korea’s total fertility rate, which shows how many children the average woman will have over her lifetime, stood at a record low of 0.71 in the second quarter of 2024.

Given that Korea needs at least 2.1 births per woman to keep the population pool without immigration, the current fertility rate is ominously low.

Between January and August, the number of births came in at 158,000, marking a 0.4 percent decrease from a year earlier. This slight decrease -- instead of a drastic drop -- comes as a sign for some experts that Korea’s birth rate might hit a bottom and start to move upward in the foreseeable future.

What is crucial now is to turn it into a sustained upward trend. To achieve this, all government and local administration policies must be consistently directed toward fostering an environment conducive to having and raising more children. This is a tough call considering the limited budget, but more efforts are needed to reverse the downward birth rate trend in Korea.

Given that most young couples opt for dual income, policies that encourage the balance between work and family life are crucial for encouraging them to consider having and raising children in a nation where education costs are becoming high and competition to stay ahead at school is fierce.

Aside from government policies, companies are required to pay more attention to the importance of family and newborn babies. Some workplaces offer on-site child care facilities for their workers, but such facilities are not widely available yet, due in part to cost issues.

There is another positive sign. The Presidential Committee on Aging Society and Population Policy said that young people are now holding a positive view about marriages. In its survey of unmarried people aged 25-49 conducted last month, 65 percent said they plan to get married or wish to do so in the future.

It is time for the government to seize the hard-won momentum of the recent upturn in the number of newborn babies by offering better support programs and incentives.