Population Change and Future Direction of Population Policy in Korea

한국의 인구현황과 정책방향

The Korean Population Control Program has been implementing under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs through an existing network of health centers. This arrangement was successful in bringing population growth down to targeted level by the end of the Fourth Five Year Economic Planning, 1981. It is expected, however, that future goal will be harder to reach due to difficulty of reducing traditional family size norms further and to the projected increasing the number of eligible couples as the past Korean war baby boom generation enters the reproductive activity in the next few years. The recognition of the need for modification of population policy is increasing. The 1980 census shows that the total number of population reached approximately 38.5 million with 1.57 per cent of the growth rate. It was projected that the size of Korean Population will reach around 42 million and 51 million in 1986 and 2000 respectively. Furthermore, there is some argument as to whether decline in the birth rate in Korea is too slow to meet government target. Hence, a new development of population policy and greatly increased amount of effort will be needed in order to achieve Zero Population Growth Rate before the year 2050. The development of future national population policy and its related area are recommended as follow: 1. It is highly recommended that the population planning law governing both vital events of birth and death and population migration should be legislated. 2. The National Population Policy Council, Chaired by Deputy Prime Minister should be activated to implement and coordinate population program within ministries. 3. Responsible organization of population and family planning program should be established as a Bureau unit at central government level. 4. For the improvement of national vital registration, an existing system should be studied and developed.