• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.75-84
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• 2009

Recently, low birthrate has been recognized as a social problem, which is expressed as catastrophy of population. There are several reasons why low birth rate has occurred directly and indirectly, generating total economic and social burden for our society. That is, low birthrate should not be simply regarded as reduction of population. The present study identified the reasons of low birthrate and the current status of infertility, and examined practical and theoretical issues in terms of low birthrate. It is our contention that low birthrate and infertility is one of the most important governmental issue to enhance quality of life of the public. Thus, integrated and systematic policy must be developed and implemented to effectively meet the issues.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.1-13
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• 2007

The purpose of this study is to examine the college students' and married adults' perceptions of the current low fertility and their motivations of parenthood. It also verifies the gender differences in the numbers of planned children between male and female college students. The sample population included 100 unmarried undergraduate students and 100 married adults. The measurements included in the questionnaire were based on recommendations from the literature review. The major findings of this study are as follows: Women reported higher levels of traditional-normal and altruistic-emotional motivations of parenthood than men did. College students reported higher levels of motivations of parenthood to strengthen biological family ties than married adults did, while adults reported higher levels of martial bond-strengthening, traditional-normal, and gene-preservative motivations of parenthood than students did. College students attributed the current low fertility to the tight labor market and high costs of childbirth and rearing while married adults attributed to gender-discriminating traditional family norms, increasing infertility, and poor conditions of pregnancy and childbirth. Female and adult respondents took the social problems caused by the current low fertility more seriously than their counterparts did.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2021.05a
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• pp.496-498
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• 2021

In Korea, based on the high fertility rate before 1980, the total population has been steadily increasing, and since the mid-1980s, the fertility rate has fallen sharply and has fallen below the level of population replacement. The cause of low birth rate in the region is not voluntary rejection, but rather, it is necessary to find out the cause by identifying the structural causes of the local community from various angles. We collected local Internet news and local representative cafe data, where many mothers participate, based on the budget area with a very low fertility rate among various areas. Factors of childbirth inhibition were analyzed by using the frequency of concurrent words that became issues related to population decline, low birthrate, and child-rearing welfare.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.162-173
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• 2014

Among OECD countries, Korea is the only country which has continuously recorded total birthrate below 1.3 person for over 10 years. Since 2006, the Korean government has promoted the population policy in full scale. But, the fertility rate which became low has not shown any sign to go up again. Thus, Korea can be understood as having fallen into 'low fertility trap'. Such a low fertility can cause serious problems such as weakening of national competitive power and even survival of the country. In Korea, due to studies and finding jobs among young women, their childbirths are kept being postponed. In some cases, poor working conditions where women work can cause physical conditions not appropriate for pregnancy. Thus, it is very important to let childbearing women, pregnant women take care of their health. Accordingly, conscious of this low fertility era, this study examined major international organizations and countries' health promoting strategies-with focus on motherhood and suggested some methods to effectively improve health for motherhood.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.24 no.6 s.84
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• pp.161-176
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to conduct a family impact analysis to examine the effects of policies to lower fertility in families in Korea. Data were collected from a purposive sample of three groups of government officials, family scholars, and staff at family-related organizations and associations. 105 family policy professionals responded to the self-report questionnaire. The family impact analysis scale was formulated by the researcher based on Ooms'(1995)'A checklist for assessing the impact of policies on families' and Lawson & Lawson's(2001)'An example on family impact analysis checklist or inventory.' The results showed there were eight factors in the family impact analysis on the policies to low fertility in Korea; strengthening family membership and stability; providing various convenient public services; recognizing family interdependence; recognizing the efficiency of implementing policies and support of vulnerable families; strengthening the family function of childbirth; recognizing family relationships; preventing family problems and empowering families; and recognizing family diversity. The conclusions and implications of these findings were also discussed.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.137-163
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• 2010

This study examines how individual, familial, and social factors are associated with persistent very low fertility in Busan Metropolitan City and contemplates family-friendly environments and social strategies for fertility increase. Fertility decline in Busan Metropolitan City recorded the lowest birth rate nationwide recent years among metropolitan cities and provinces in Korea. Birthrates are low partly because of multiple factors such as high age at childbearing and at marriage, decline in marriage, high divorce rate, the phenomena of marriage avoidance among unmarried women, traditional gender role attitude of men, low domestic work participation of husbands among dual career couples, low marital satisfaction and family life satisfaction, abortion, and more broader attiributes such as family policy, availability of childcare, education expenses, and family-friendlyness of a society. In addition, women of dual career couples in Busan strained from domestic work overload under traditional norms of gender role, and marital satisfaction recorded below average nationwide along with espeacially low marital satisfaction of wives compared to that of husbands. Major aspects of implications and considerations for higher birth rate and family friendly policy in Busan are discussed.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.143-149
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• 2018

This paper focuses on how Singapore has adopted the 'Marriage Promotion Policy' for resolving the low birthrate and how it has been using the Social Development Network (SDN) to cope with the problem of low fertility. Social Development Network is an organization that shows Singapore's national stewardship to marriage, and has developed from the beginning to the social phenomenon of increasing number of highly educated women and decreasing fertility. The predecessor of Social Development Network is 'Social Development Unit' (SDU), absorbed the 'Social Development Service' (SDS) that was launched later, and reborn as Social Development Network in 2009. At its inception, Social Development Network has been recruiting and organizing its own memberships without the help of commercial marriage agencies, and since 2006 has been dedicated to delegating dating and matchmaking services to private companies and supporting projects. The purpose of this paper using literature analysis is to analyze the status and role of Social Development Network from the theoretical point of view of marital stewardship to the present, and to suggest meaningful implications for Korea which has the same social experience.

• Industry Promotion Research
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.79-86
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• 2021

Due to the change in the demographic structure, the problem of low birth rate and aging population leads to a serious decrease in human resources, and the necessity of introducing foreign workers is increasing. This study believes that the introduction of foreign workforce is the most effective to expand the working-age population in the era of low birthrate and aging, when demographic changes begin in earnest, and to this end, it sought to devise measures to improve the legal system for migrant workers. As a result of this study, first, the legal system for migrant workers should be unified and improved. It is necessary to establish or unify management agencies so that the 「Immigration Control Act」 and the 「Labor Act」 can establish a cooperative relationship. Second, the 「Immigration Control Act」 should be revised to make it easier for migrant workers to find employment. It is necessary to positively review the employment permit system and acquisition of nationality. Third, there should be no equity or discrimination against migrant workers. Under the principle of mutual benefit, employers and migrant workers should not be equally discriminated against. Fourth, the social insurance system must be added to the legal system of migrant workers. Therefore, the legal system should be reorganized so that migrant workers are not discriminated against in various insurance systems including the four major social insurance systems. In conclusion, the problem of low birthrate and aging population has become a serious social problem due to changes in the demographic structure, and the decrease in the possible generation population has reached a level of concern. The importance of migrant workers' employment and work environment is increasing. Nevertheless, related legal and institutional problems still exist, and measures to improve the legal system for migrant workers are needed.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.96-110
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• 2021

Korea is faced with the challenge of adapting to the world's fastest - growing low birthrate, aging society, and low growth with low interest rate era. With low fertility and aging population, the factors of financial income of health insurance are decreasing, and the increase of public interest in health, high cost medical technology and the development of medicine are leading to increase expenditure of health insurance. In this study, I will examine the strengthen protection of health insurance, financial stabilization, and fairness of medical care. First, the present status and limitations of health insurance were identified through domestic policy report, domestic and foreign literature, and precedent research. Second, the foreign health insurance policy measures to stabilize the finances were examined separately. Based on this study, in order to maintain sustainable health insurance through reinforcement and financial stabilization of health insurance, the current financial income structure of health insurance must be renovated. It will be necessary to expand government subsidies and discover new tax revenues. In addition, a policy to save finances by reorganizing the medical bill payment system and medical delivery system will also be needed.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.215-235
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• 2018

Policy concerns related to raising fertility rates are not only common interests among the OECD countries, but they are also issues of great concern to South Korea whose fertility rate is the lowest in the world. The fertility rate in South Korea continues to decline, even though most of the national budget has been spent on measures to address this and many studies have been conducted on the increase in the fertility rates. In this regard, this study aims to verify the effectiveness of the detailed factors affecting the fertility rate that have been discussed in the previous studies on fertility rates, and to investigate the overall trend toward enhancing the quality of life and increasing the fertility rate through macroscopic and structural studies under the recognition of problems related to the policy approaches through the case studies of the European countries. Toward this end, this study investigated if a high quality of life in advanced countries contributes to the increase in the fertility rate, which country serves as a state model that has a high quality of life and a high fertility rate, and what kind of social and policy environment does the country have with regard to childbirth. The analysis of the OECD Better Life Index (BLI) and CIA fertility rate data showed that the countries whose people enjoy a high quality of life do not necessarily have high fertility rates. In addition, under the recognition that a country with a high quality of life and a high birth rate serves as a state model that South Korea should aim for, the social characteristics of Iceland, Ireland, and New Zealand, which turned out to have both a high quality of life and a high fertility rate, were compared with those of Germany, which showed a high quality of life but a low fertility rate. According to the comparison results, the three countries that were mentioned showed higher awareness of gender equality; therefore, the gender wage gap was small. It was also confirmed that the governments of these countries support various policies that promote both parents sharing the care of their children. In Germany, on the other hand, the gender wage gap was large and the fertility rate was low. In a related move, however, the German government has made active efforts to a paradigm shift toward gender equality. The fertility rate increases when the synergy lies in the relationship between parents and children; therefore, awareness about gender equality should be firmly established both at home and in the labor market. For this reason, the government is required to provide support for the childbirth and rearing environment through appropriate family policies, and exert greater efforts to enhance the effectiveness of the relevant systems rather than simply promoting a system construction. Furthermore, it is necessary to help people in making their own childbearing decisions during the process of creating a better society by changing the national goal from 'raising the fertility rate' to 'creating a healthy society made of happy families'