43% of Koreans aged 20-49 do not plan to have kids: survey

Nearly 43 percent of South Korean nationals between ages 20 and 49 do not plan to have children, though a substantial number of respondents said they would consider changing their minds if government policies and corporate support for it were significantly expanded, a survey showed.

The Korean Peninsula Population Institute for Future on Sunday revealed the results of its survey of 2,000 Korean nationals, including singles and couples both with and without children. Some 42.6 percent said they have no intention of having children, while 37.8 percent said they do, and 19.6 percent said they were unsure.

The survey first asked whether respondents intend to get married, and 53.2 percent said they did, while 27.4 percent said they did not and 19.4 percent were unsure. The portion of respondents who did not intend to get married was higher among women -- at 34.6 percent -- than men, at 21.5 percent.

For single men, their top answer for not planning to get married was financial insecurity, at 20.1 percent, followed by thinking they'll be happier alone at 18.9 percent and thinking it will be difficult to meet realistic marriage conditions at 15.8 percent. Among the single women who did not intend to marry, 17.6 percent thought they'll be happier living alone, 16.2 percent did not want to marry due to the culture of patriarchy and gender inequality, and 12.4 percent believed they wouldn't be able to meet anyone they'd want to marry.

Of the couples who are married but don't have kids, 19.1 percent said that they do not want to have children because they do not feel the need. Another 11.8 percent said they don't want to put in the personal time and effort required to raise a child.

Korea logged a population decline for the fourth year straight in 2023 of 122,800. This drop was largely due to the country's record-low total fertility rate -- the average number of children born to a woman in her lifetime -- continuing to sink, with the 2023 figure of 0.72 expected to dip to 0.68 this year.

Women were more likely than men not to want to have children, as the survey showed 52.9 percent of the female respondents saying they have no intention of having kids. The top reasons women cited for not wanting to have children were: not feeling the need to have children (13.9 percent), lacking the financial means (12.7 percent) and children's education costs being huge (10.7 percent).

In addition to the rise in people not intending to have kids, South Korea has also seen a drop in the number of couples with more than one child. The Statistics Korea figures show that 744,000 second children was born in 2023, marking a 11.4 percent decrease from the year before.

Compared to 10 years prior, the birth rate for second children dropped 55.1 percent, compared to the 38.4 percent decline in the birth rate for first children.

The top reasons for parents not wanting another child were mostly related to the financial burden. Of those, 17.3 percent said they do not have the financial means to support another child, and 15.3 percent said it is due to the enormous cost associated with educating children here.

As such, the survey indicated that expanded government policies and corporate support might help change some people's minds towards having children. Of the 62.2 percent who said they do not have or are unsure about plans to have kids, 44.1 percent said they might change their minds if government policies and companies strengthened support for it.