For more authentic insights like this from Asia, you can watch some of our exclusive videos not available on UA-cam for free here: asianboss.io/yt/123-exclusivevideos
Could you make videos around the world, about "mix DNA of BABY CLONING to maintain population?" And their future work to be police, soldier, firefighter, work for the government, etc. I think already aplicable ro japan korea US, Caucasian Population, etc; even in my country the smart people somehow dont want to gave kids(indonesia)
It is pretty impressive listening and reading what these people have to say, clearly a very intelligent population who use their brain it is shocking how mentally challenged the average WASP American person is in the US, yet somehow the country functions! If u were to do the same random sample questions in the states the quality of answers in comparison would be a 2 out of 10 vs what I just saw, ie 9 out of 10 on average from every one you asked. Not just this issues, any issue. It is surprising how the US with such an average mentally challenged population is not a fourth world country.
Let's be completely honest here. Economists say that regulated immigration is the best way to increase the birth rate in any developed nation. This means taking Visa from skilled people AND vetted refugees. Places like Korea and Japan are very xenophobic and have laws that allow legal discrimination based on foreign status. This drives away people will skills like teaching and business from becoming permanent residents. Until these countries stop valuing racial purity, birth rates will continue to plummet.
Why would Young Koreans, especially women, want to have kids? They grew up in that hyper competitive environment and know how stressful it is to be doing school work 12 hours a day, 18 hours a day, and only getting 5 hours of sleep. And if you're the mother, you can kiss your career goodbye. You get discriminated against openly for being a mother with no promotions, barely any raises, and people pressuring you to quit to be a stay at Home mother. If you work outside the home, you still have a full time job with ALL the domestic duties unless you luck out with a helpful father. And the father never sees their family, having to work crazy hours to make up for the lack of a second income, and that's only if the overtime is even PAID in the first place. It often times isn't. And the after work forced socialization when all you want to do is go home and see your wife and kid is the key to promotions. You have to be a "team player". Korea is suffering from hyper capitalism in a country that expanded super fast from abject poverty after the Korean War to one of relative prosperity in 50 years. Society hasn't kept up, and it's punishing the young and the weak.
Hyper capitalism, because every capitalists society is just like or close to Korea am I right? Maybe if the Koreans wouldn't let their government be controlled by for profit only corporations maybe they would see the regulatory changed required to have better birth rates. Things like, family first, profit second.
@@Assarabiyah 9h+ 5h of school makes about 14h if you want to get in a sky university. Add 2h for transportation and bathroom, 1h for eating and shower, 1-2h for using your cellphone or doing chores such as going to the market or cleaning dishes, and you're left with about about 5-6 hours of sleep
4:28 she said it all. If the government wants them to have kids, they have to change the environment and policies and norms for them to WANT to have kids.
@@georgecrumb8442 You are right. But it is also true their governments supply them with support. In their case it's because of people's own desires cause the declining birth rate.
If I was a man, I'd also like to have children but since I am not and I am the one who has to give birth, be pregnant, risk my health, probably my career, I don't. It's actually not that complicated. Not even talking about money, housework and child care here.
@@strawberryynoodlesauce Yes!! It's such a huge difference and yet politicians are in riddles! Like it wasn't the most obvious reason of them all. Why do rich people have surrogates. Come on.
@@MrsStrawhatberry Yeah cause working and motherhood is hard, effects on your body and mental health will get crazy, I've seen it. So rich ppl like you mentioned don't wanna ruin themselves so they get some poor woman and pay her to give them a kid. The ones who do have their own kids may have just wanted their actual own for certain reasons but they have the resources to not work or do anything for a bit while they recover and they're stable. Normal women with normal husbands / BF's suffer the most, or worse, single moms who's partner left
Then don't give birth, the system will self regulate and these anti-natalist ideas of yours will disappear with you, but the majority of women who actually are mature enough to give birth will live on with their lives and their children as the world didn't absolutely change regardless you decided to give birth or no.
Interesting nature gave you no choice in the mater tradionally. You could chose your partener or abstain from a relationship. So you are chosing to kill your family tree from fear. The best medicins in recorded history gives you no hope. Fear is a curse is it not.
My parents told me ‘you can enjoy your life when you became an adult, so stop playing and study.’ That’s why I’m enjoying my life instead of having a child or getting married.😂😂
Raised by Korean parents, I was taught that I was a failure as a human because I was not the best at anything so I have no desire to bring a person into the cruel world that I was brought up in.
@@snowballeffect7812this person probably doesn’t speak just for himself but for A LOT of Koreans who got raised without any love or affection and no matter how hard you want it to be easy but a lot of adults are simply said emotional not able to be a good and loving parent because of how they got raised.
@@orphaxx1254 yeah, and all I'm saying is that they don't have to do be like that lol. We should strive to be better instead of making essentialist excuses. They don't have to be a parent if they don't want to, but the reason should not be "because I am a bad person like my parents were" lol.
@@snowballeffect7812 like the judgmental person you are coz you got it from SOMEWHERE?? judging someone on the internet for their PERSPECTIVE, like its not valid. WHAT THEY HAVE LIVED, IS TRUE AND VALID FOR THEM, even their decision to change, should it come organically.
@@LostSoulchild89 reading comprehension is not your strong suit, huh. idc if they have kids or not, but they should not plan to become bad people; that seems silly. It's like saying "I'll fail my finals anyway, so why bother studying?" a month before the exam.
Mothers don‘t get the respect they deserve. Every country whines how they need more children but in reality children and mothers are not treated well. Children should only be seen and never heard. If they act out it‘s the mothers fault and besides being a mother is not even seen as a job. You don‘t get enough financial help so why would young people want children?
the society chose the government and when the government doesn*t support families its a self made crisis. So its unfair to shove guilt into womens shoes or desire couples to have children. When there are so bad conditions no one is able to raise children properly.
IMO, this is a scene not only in Korea but everywhere in the world. Cost of living is increasing non stop, richer gets richer and middle income earners are squeeze till it's difficult to breath. So it's no surprise that many younger generations opt to take care of their own first instead of thinking to start a family.
@@memeherp166even they see their birth rate in decrease as their literacy slowly gradually goes up. Even immigrants who are often used to boost birth rates end up adopting the sane habits of natives and within a generation they have similar birth rates through assimilation.
I agree with you only partially, because South Korea is probably the only country in the world which can due uno reverse move to fix their birth rate problem with one simple law and move. I live in Israel and our country is measured as one of the highest costs of living country in the world, we always make in top 10 of such list and i just checked data right now and compare it to South Korea and it says that the cost of living in Israel is 1.57 times higher than in South Korea. However, we in Israel have 2.9 fertility rate which is in top 60 countries by fertility rate and not only we don't have an issue with dropping fertility rate or ageing population, it's actually quite opposite - our population only grows and fertility rate remains around 3.0 score. And the answer is simple - compulsory military service for all women, when birth of a child is obviously giving a woman free pass from compulsory military service. We in Israel surrounded by enemies who wish us harm, so in order to survive as a nation we MUST keep compulsory military service. So does South Korea due to threat from a North Korea. The only difference is, that in our country we have everything equal - both men and women serve, but in South Korea for some odd reason only men serve, while women given free pass and basically natural advantage over the men in terms of university and career, because while men forced to serve in military, women manage to finish their education earlier and secure good position at company over the men, while men left with nothing. Current South Korea laws are a direct incentive for women to chose career over the children and family and nothing will change, until women in South Korea are also would be forced to serve in army. That is just my opinion, at least. I love South Korea products like Samsung and only wish Korea the best.
Lolll of course the men in their society want kids. Its so easy to "love" your kids and get married when your wife does all the work. I dont blame the women for not wanting kids if all the burden is put on them.
I don’t think you should put all men in that my dad works really hard for us to have a confortable life so no it’s not easy for him too even if my mom who’s retired takes cares of us
@@angelsis2222 if the mother isn't a stay at home then i agree, otherwise she should just care for the kids instead of pushing that onto the sole earner for the family
@@mintblr_1464 that's nice but he didnt have to put his body through hell to grow and birth them did he, women still routinely die from pregnancy and birth
Another reason: Many men are ultra conservative, meaning they will expect the women to quit their job, say goodbye to their career and commit to being a housewife. While on the other hand, many young korean women are not putting up with this mindset of conservativeness anymore. It is mainly the women who say: "No more, I don't need to be a child bearer and housewife to my husband. I am more than that in life". So the men and women in Korea have evolved differently in the past 20 years. Men are stuck in the past,while women are quite liberal. There comes the gender war. I spoke to many korean friends of mine about this. Plus, as a women in Korea myself, who would be willing to have some children, it is super hard to find a "decent" (respectful, forward thinking, helpful, supportive, open minded, not ultra conservative) man then, to even have children with.
I heard about this, and as they should. It's been so hard on women forever... And rn conservatives in the US are trying to bully women into being submissive like that, tradwife is literally a trend rn lol
Doesn't change the fact that more educated women with a career dont want children. They can have the most liberal and leftist man waiting on them and they still won't want a child. Having a child is a negative to current modern human culture. Kids are terrible, kids come with sacrifice and headachs and humanity right now is in their selfish phase.
@@Needler13 No it's created by women who want male attention. Normal women can find normal men or stay single (single women are more happy when they did a study) It's the same kinda women who post their selfies and bodies online but different scenario. They like that all the men sit in the comments and say "wow this is a REAL woman, not like those feminists!" Come on lmao
have you even had a korean friend? i lived in seoul for about 15 years and men there are one of the most progressive people in the world in terms of gender issues.
Being a kid there sounds awful, like you’re just some robot tasked with learning everything from dawn til dusk then joining a never-ending fight for work and status with a terrible work/life balance as soon you’re an adult. Why would anyone want to do that?
I don't work my ass off because I *want* to, I do it because I *have* to. When you don't have an option you will do what you need to do to prevent living a horrible disgraceful life.
Your answer just shows how priviliged you are, sure compared to a western or North European cultured country, it's difficult to see the upside. But compared to 90% of the world, even their position is relatively priviliged.
Ironically, one of the key answers to the question used to be sex, itself, with babies being a consequence of that. But there's a growing sex recession all over the advanced world. A lot of people just aren't getting laid at all regularly anymore. This both removes one of the primary rewards for existing and also removes the possibility of children being born, a devastating double-whammy.
if i could be a father, heck, i'd want five kids! but as a mother, being expected to give up everything i've worked for and become a 주부 housewife or worse, having to care for the kids as a default parent AND working 딩크, i could never imagine that. The gender divide in korea is insane and it's growing worse with men not wanting to admit that the current system is disadvantageous towards women at best and oppressive at worst. Women are the future, they control the birthrate when human rights are ensured. It'd do a lot of societies good to treat them better, and it's have good effects for everyone, regardless of gender.
If you were a man you also WOULDN'T want to have kids, imagine providing for a family of 6 if you can't even pay a proper house or apartment to yourself
There's a big movement of Korean women who would not want kids even if things were affordable, they are standing against Korean culture where women are expected to be the only parent (they feel Korean men don't contribute at all to raising kids) and also abandon their identity and life to be a parent.
This thinking is the real problem. Government can't fix the birth rate. Want proof? Look at the policies last 10 years and all the incentives. Then look at European gov solutions or japan or every single developed country (zero developed countries have over 2.1 children per woman which is minimum sustaining birth rate) and you will see zero have a solution that works. Plus when homes were even less affordable for the average south korean family (like my grandparents generation) koreans were having too many babies. Real solution is culture change. If you keep throwing money at low birth rate, you get the same results, opposite effect than rising birth rate.
They want to support elderly too but their process sometime turn into killing elderly in a slowly way. The problem is if a young couple just want to live a very basic life with a basic help from government system, it is still hard to go after. Fair, justice would somehow involve and make things harder for all sides.
After living in a few different countries I noticed that men and women act the same: men say they want kids one day and it's a really vague idea with no proper plan of action while women think practically on how to get there and how that will affect them financially and mentally and start preparing earlier. In my opinion this is why a lot of women are set on not having kids, because they thought through it properly for a while. Men just surf life saying they want to have kids (1, 2, 3, 4....) and hope that women will deal with the hard work and logistics.
I am a Taiwanese woman. Taiwan’s birth rate is competing with SK’s to be lowest in the world. I personally think it stems from a few issue. 1. Housing: when we are finally more stable in our career (28 or above), we often need to choose between putting down or deposit for a house or having a kid. Most people will choose a house since raising a kid without housing security is terrifying 2. Social structure: many East Asian country has this insane idea that woman needs to give up their job when they have kids. Many companies also use insane tactic to force pregnant women to quit. If today women got divorced by their husband after having the kid, they will have little financial prospect for the future since single mom’s employability goes down. Not to mention in this economy, one working parent is often not enough. The amount of financial burden that’s put on man from the society also creates isolation between man and their families. It is very unhealthy for either side. 3. Future prospect: if you talk to young people, you will often hear how pessimistic about our own future. As GenZ I grew up during a global recession and graduated college in a pandemic. Between AI and climate change’s affect catching the developed world, I do not know how to prepare for the next generation.
@@sep4957 ... and somehow people managed to do all this for all human history. Even living in conditions we'd consider extreme poverty now. It's not about "I can't do it" and blame lack of resources while living like royalty, but "how do I do it?". In my country the gov lavish people with free stuff and they still don't reproduce, so I think it's the matter of can-do attitude and feeling dependent on externalities. E.g. here instead of expecting the gov to do everything for you, you could save 30k€ with your spouse and you'd be easily set for all childhood. But people don't choose to do it because they expect tax money and services to be given to them.
@@edheldude I would imagine #1 -- the housing issue. It's the same here in the US. If you have kids prior to education and work, you are financially very precarious and often poor. That's really scary for raising kids. But if you go all the way through advanced degrees and promotions until you are safe and have bought a house, you're having kids quite late in life while you are also juggling elder care and high demands at work.
What the guy said , seeing our parents work to the bone to not enjoy much in life makes people not want to give life just to endure what we had already endured which was seeing our parents suffer and suffering with them .
Right like what’s the point. Parents suffered in the name of giving their kids a better life that didn’t come true. So why bother suffering for no reason too
@@dawert2667 Except you will suffer in your old age when the birth rate has fallen so low your civilization has crumbled and there are no social or economic supports for the elderly. No children or grandchildren to care for you either. Such a society devolves into "get rid of the weak who represent economic burdens" very quickly. Life is suffering; we can't avoid it. We can only choose the most meaningful path presented to us, which usually means suffering for the sake of someone else rather than yourself.
This all stems from rising income inequality. My grandparents had 6 kids, and lived pretty well in the suburbs. All off his salary from drafting maps. My parents both worked blue collar jobs, and just got by raising 2 kids. Now, I can't really afford any children.
yes you can afford children, just make them and feed them food which I'm sure you can, dont send them to school or college and make them take low level jobs, easy solution but all koreans want their kids to work at Samsung.
@@polaris1985Parents want to give the best to their children. I live in France and my parents are doing these "low level jobs". They don't want for us (my brothers and I) to do the same. These jobs are ungrateful, you're destroying your health, I don't even think that my father is going to reach the age of 80 years old. He is barely 55 years old but has already a lot of health issues. I rather not have any children if it's for them to do these kind of jobs. Later on they will have a miserable pension, that's not a good life.
Wow, it was astounding to watch this interview and feel so represented by the words of women that live in the opposite side of the world (I'm from Italy). I felt like there were no barriers, no cultural differences that could prevent me in really understand what they were saying. I love and support them all.
@GoralischeSS Musso was a kid . The moustache man was the absolute Chad. If he wouldn't have collided with ussr/Russians , he would have won easily. That one wrong decision cost him a lot
@GoralischeSS you're so worried about the European future and European kids which is funny since your chances of even talking to a woman are below zero You incels are the number one reason Europe will have less and less Europeans loll
_Why have a child that's going to put you deeper into debt and poverty and then later on in life you have to tell you're child when they turn 18, you cannot afford to pay for their college and now you and your adult kid, are both living in poverty._
The answer: because if nobody has kids, the entire country just ceases to exist. A kid in poverty might eventually get out of poverty. A kid who's never born will never be anything, at all -- guaranteed. It's the difference between the possibilities of being in the world versus the impossibility of progress when there literally is no future because children are never born.
Many women in South Korea choose not to have children due to societal expectations and gender roles. Single living is often considered a temporary phase, and women who have babies alone are not always judged kindly. Some women find it difficult to find a dateable man who will share household chores and childcare responsibilities equally.
So true!! Korean women are refusing to be treated as poorly as their mothers have been. The men in this video aren’t so bad, but I’ve seen/heard worse where men are just expecting women to be their maids with no respect to them as equal partners.
Korea has one of the highest women's rights in the world. Higher the women's rights, lower the birth rates. That's why 80% of Korean citizenship renouncements are men, because there's no benefit for them to be in Korea.
Korea has one of the highest women's rights in the world. Higher the women's rights, lower the birth rates. Husbands want the wife to work but the wives are just lazy and complain about how they're getting discriminated against when it's just that they're incompetent and don't put in the effort. No wonder 80% of Korean citizenship renouncements are men. Korean men are now flying out of the country in droves to live in foreign countries and/or find foreign wives.
With all things considered with how Korean society is as an whole you cannot even blame people if they say they do not wish to have children. Most adults & people are unhappy & others simply can’t even afford to
For sure. Playing crossfire a bit here, how do you know having any wouldn’t drive someone to be more competitive and be a catalyst for happiness? Or how do we know it’s the lack thereof?
It’s relative. I have seen many happy home house tours. It’s a program meant to give couples just married low rentals for a time to save to get a more permanent house and encourage babies. They are often 2 bedroom. Most often the other bedroom becomes a closet complete with clothing styler or an office. Afford to. It’s relative. When most the country didn’t have enough rice or shoes that fit people had 6 kids.
Thank you! Some people are acting like the lowest birth rate is a bad thing like, nobody can control a woman's body for starters, it their choice to not have kids, not all women are into that lifestyle and generally speaking, not all women are born attracted to men (because some are born lesbians or bisexual who leans towards women more) or not all of them want anything to do with men at all. But to the straight and even bi women who actually do want kids, they'd rather be financially stable first to give their kids a better life because they don't want to birth their kids into poverty at all as that kind of lifestyle can bring some damages and unhealthy balance to them and it really valid.
As it should be. What the USA has going for it is that a lot of people DO NOT think and randomly have children with no healthcare system, a limited and sometimes non existant social system, and changing laws that can have your state working under an 1800s law regarding rights.
Also other parts in the world, I noticed. That is the truth though. Its been romantised for too long. Its dangerous because it leads to unwanted and abused children.
@@aan2931 As a Korean in my early 30s, I completely agree with you. People always want to be perfect in every way, and there's a compulsive belief that marriage must fulfill all these conditions.
So, the gender pay gap is extreme in Korea and women get treated like garbage ones they are married and have kids. Men treat them like crap as well and once they have kids, they can’t have a life of their own anymore. Costs of living are increasing exponentially. But why oh why don’t Korean women want to have kids? It remains a mystery.
Birth rate wasn't an issue before when women didn't work and were housewives. Then a ton of feminist BS gets pushed in a country, the less women have kids - we've seen it all over in first world countries. Turns out feminism is telling women they should work and are valued for being workers than wives or mothers. then women stop having kids s a result
The only way to solve COL crisis is to move large companies out of Seoul. You cannot have 90% of the country living in one city and expect housing prices to drop.
@@bebetterandloveyourself6483 Man, just the city of Busan has THREE million people. South Korea is full of big cities. What they need is more space. Damn DMZ
The infrastructure is built up in Seoul. There's no moving even a quarter of the population of seoul to other cities. Don't you think the same problems will exist if you move 15 million people to surrounding cities? Korea needs to increase corporate taxes, tax companies sending jobs overseas and increase the minimum wage but too many corrupt decision makers have the politicians in their hand.
@@Wurfenkopf I see that there's other big city.. thanks for the info it's just that from my personal opinion (don't know if it's the truth), Seoul is where good education and job etc is. And become THE dream place to live and where you can achieve your dreams and think maybe the opportunity to have a good life is. Well, that's just my personal opinion on people's perception of Seoul.
This is it, by moving jobs out of Seoul not only will the housing prices drop but the competition will decrease because of abundance of smaller companies that won’t ask for a degree from Seoul universities. It’s crazy that Korea already has such a small land mass but is limiting themselves even more.
These folks had some wonderful, thoughful, and educated responses. I feel like I've learned more from them than from any news article about the birth rate issue.
@@Ray-om3cp A lot aren't and turn out to be yet another person she has to take care of. Usually both work and she takes care of the children's needs and his. It's not worth it.
13:46 I feel bad for her. She really wants to have kids but can't because of other factors. The fact that she watches programs about raising kids and programs that have kids, knowing that she'll probably never get to experience that is just heartbreaking. I really hope she gets to have a kid soon. She looks like she'd be an amazing mother
It's a trend in all developed countries. Korea is just the most extreme case but many many countries are well below the 2.1 fertility rate needed to just maintain current population.
It's probably this bad in Korea because they don't have children outside of marriage. Or rather, if they do, it's considered shameful and there's a huge stigma on single parents.
Many countries could stand to lower their population, it sounds like a step in the right direction if you ask me, the way things have been trending the last thing we need is billions more people scrounging for the few crumbs left to offer. It's clear countries can't be sustained on the trajectory it was heading, the only major issue I see is that eventually there will be a very aged population with very few people to care for them, outside of that, less people would do many countries a lot of good.
Cool, live your best life. Don't forget that women have an expiration date, don't regret it later when you are unable to make kids anymore. I hope you won't regret your choices and live happily.
you're right. Soon, women will also have to serve in the military due to the low birth rate. I hope Korea becomes a country with a high birth rate like "Israel". 😊
My mother is a SAHM and growing up my father was never really around me. My mother did all the cleaning, cooking, doing laundry, ironing uniforms, attending school events, packing lunches, taking us out and what not. My dad did what? He worked in 2 shifts that changes every 15 days. Went to work, come back and binge watch tv or talk with friends. No really help around the house, my mother encouraged us to study hard. My dad was only present when finals results were announced to get all the credit. According to him, if me (18f) and my brother (15m) excelled it's because of him and if we did any mistake it's my mother's fault. I saw my mother taking care of my father whenever he fell ill or wanted to eat something yummy, my mom would spend hours in kitchen soaked in sweat due to heat. My mother gave us an environment to put out our opinions, speak our minds but whenever we have a conversation with our dad it's VERY intense, frustrating since all the time he's lecturing us and call it a family discussion where our dad is basically yelling and US listening to him.
Excellent answers from every interviewee. The guy with the ponytail seemed to be especially thoughtful. As for me and my wife in Korea, she was eager to have kids when we first started dating. But these days as a married couple we have both agreed it's better to just enjoy each other's company without a child - stress free and able to save for our retirement rather than spending hundreds of millions of won raising a kid into a society with so little joy to offer them.
Change the work culture- Not more than 40H week and give people their private lives back. Avoid getting drunk in the evenings, not stigmatize children outside marriage, are some solutions that might work
40 hours is still an absurd amount at our stage of development. Consider how much more powerful our computers, systems, logistics, and information availability are compared to the 1980s. We should be able to do more with less. Most workplaces use extremely inefficient processes.
@@emultra759 A genius expert in economics in 1910 worked out in euroupe you would be able to provide all you need from work and have money left over in the 1950s it happened and everyone still works 40 hour weeks now. Still better than the 60 hour weeks my dad did in the 1960s. Ai will not stop you from working unless it make you unemployed.
You know the crazy part is that legally is 8hours a day and not more than 56hours (or so) with overwork. It's just not followed because of the hierarchy issue of listening to your boss, working really hard because it's so competitive to get a job that if you land one you do everything to keep it. My friend is doing a 10am-10pm and weekends 5hours a day but his contract says 10am-6pm. You're just expected to do this. Maybe if this changes the drinking culture will too because out of all my guy friends they only drink either because of after work meetings or to release stress
Not only South Korea facing this problem also my country that I come from - Poland. People can't afford to own house the cost of living is too high. If you want a family both of parents has to work unless your spouse makes more than the average person make. As a single person I make the minimum wage where 70% of it goes to pay my rent. It's crazy!!!!
In Poland birth rate per woman is currently 1,475 (so it's still much better than in Korea, although definitely not enough). I'm also from Poland, and I think it doesn't look like in the comment above, maybe in some cases, but not in all. A lot of people have quite good jobs. But they still don't want to have many children, very few have more than two, from different reasons. And of course, in our country most of people, so both men and women, do work. Because one have to work up till certain age to be able to receive own retirement pension later (it's a system of public retirement insurances). As a woman I would also be afraid not to work, to quit a job and be totally dependent only on a man, I think it would be irresponsible (because various things may happen in life, like a partner's death, illness, unemployment, divorce etc., then a woman will stay with nothing, no job, no proffessional experiences, no retirement pension etc.). But in the whole EU, unlike in some other countries, we have quite good system of maternity and parental leaves, leaves in case of a child is sick and others. So there are regulations aimed at safeguarding somehow the work-life balance, also to enable a woman's come back to work after having a child. So the topic of people not wanting to have many children, and it goes for both, so men and women actually, is much more complicated. Solutions are also not easy.
I'm from Indonesia, most gen Z don't want a child but people from poverty or wealthy contributes children to society😂 I think my parent will force me to marry because they're Islamists to boot, traditional, keeping up with the neighborhood and relative. I wanna move to your country😢
@@O.Oxximsly I would prefer to stay single to the rest of my life that to be forced to marry, not to be able to have a normal relationship before my own decision to marry someone or to do this when I'm not ready and don't want to yet. It must be not easy. If You are young, maybe there's a way You could somehow come to Europe, maybe to our country or some other, for instance to study here. Quite a lot of foreigners come here also to work, in various companies.
But a South Korean living in our country, in Poland - who has also a UA-cam channel, and who got married in Poland and lives here since many years (also his Korean parents are living with him in Poland) - he has three children. So above average.
Just to add: In Poland current (2024) fertility rate per woman is 1,475. Such data I found. So it's definitely not enough to have replacement of generations, but it's still much better than in South Korea.
I mean in my pov as a female in this 21st century , my parents invest a lot in my education to help me get myself better opportunities in my future career , and the country i come from doesnt completely support the idea of woman working ( ecsp if the woman is to get married its always expected of her to give up her dreams and career for the sake of someone she just met ) ,no w tell me why i must go through 12 years of school ,4 years of undergraduate ( and if we add post graduate degree ) 2 more years of education , and waste 18 years of my parents salary if i have to give it up for the sake of someone ?? Who would want that ? I wouldnt i would want a good career for myself and would want to support my family with my money too
@@rohj4825Even if you have children, you can never be sure what will happen in life. Someone may lose contact with his children, from different reasons, children may move to the other end of the world etc. Various things happen in life. After all parents don't own their children. And someone may also save money for his/her retirement. So it's not a problem of individual person having children or not. What's important is general demographic structure of the whole society - so having more those who are proffessionally active, pay taxes and so on, than those who are not. But I can understand also the point of view of the person who wrote the comment above.
@@rohj4825 ,but i didn't say anything against having kids in my comment , I just don't want ppl to blame ppl who choose to not have kids plus having kids just to take care of you when u get old is a SELFISH REASon to have kids
@@rohj4825this is a stupid question. Even people who have kids its not a guarantee that they will take care of you. You should see the amount of old people that kids have not seen in years that die alone. Kids should also not be expected to do that. Also funny you take it right to that place when she didn’t even say anything against having kids
@@rohj4825 thats a very selfish reason to have children. if u simply cannot provide your children with the care, time, money, support, or if u simply do not want children, then you shouldn't be expected to have kids. having kids solely for having someone who will look after you when you are old is just inconsiderate
I live in Seoul and these days people even refer to women who have kids as patriot, as it contributes to the capacity of the nation in economic and societal terms.
But do they supply these “patriots” with education subsidies so their kids can thrive in the heavily competitive academic environment? Free, quality daycare--preferably on-site, so mothers don’t have to worry where their children are or feel compelled to give up their jobs and incomes entirely? And, from what I hear, the ability to afford Seoul housing AND raise a child implies a pretty solid financial cushion in the first place. We are the same in New York. Our politicians talk a great game but the delivery leaves much to be desired.
@@zaker721 yes education is free now through high school. OMG. It’s not 1970, when they called people patriots for sterilizing themselves and taking the risk to have one child instead of how many they would have had otherwise. I think there was a dictatorship going on at the time, off and on…
in the past, women were forced to get married and have kids. i have yet to meet and old lady who had no education, no choice but to be married and not resent her past. old ladies are bitter . now having an education, being able to read an academic paper, being able to think for yourslef and make educated choices and then have kids is a great blessing. but tat was not the case in the past.
@@Cxs1a3 Yeah, all women are just horrible, indeed. And men are so better. LMAO. Not that everyone are firstly human beings, that should treat the others like they would like to be treated themselves. With such attitude towards women, no wonder there's low birth rate, really.
As korean, I have wondered whether I should have a baby in a world where people are divided by hierarchy based on their appearance, jobs, income, university, etc., and those who don't meet social standards are labeled as losers lol ..
One interesting nuance is that almost nobody wants, or thinks it's practically feasible, to have more than 2 kids. You see this a lot in other countries too. Realistically, to maintain a birth rate above 2.1 requires quite a lot of people to have 3-4, because there's always going to be some people who, for various reasons, have no kids at all. This is a kinda obvious fact about averages on the face of it, but I think in a lot of countries having large families increasingly seems not just difficult to manage, but intrinsically undesirable/irresponsible.
The more educated and conservative you are the less likely you are to have more than 2-3 children. The countries where you see those numbers are usually poorer less educated countries or countries that rely on immigrants from those countries such as America. Which is why the Korean government is trying to open the country up and make it friendlier to more immigrants. But that's also tough because of the homogeneity and the cultural cohesiveness and resistance of a country like Korea.
@@GetUnwokeIt's not like that. Most of the modern, developed countries, including those the richest as well, have problems with low birth rate. So it's not at all like this. And about immigration, it poses many, also very complicated problems, which we can see for instance in Western European, also in some Scandinavian, countries. So the authorities must think over really carefully about sound, wise, appropriate immigration policy, not resulting in severe risks and problems.
Wear and tear on body, mind and finances should be a concern. Children are taxing on the mental and for most folks can be an unexpected lifelong respinsibility.
@@MayaTheDecemberGirl These things aren't exclusive. What we actually have is a partnership crisis, more people are staying alone for longer. In my country, I see this a lot: once the couples have achieved a stable relationship/marriage, a lot of them have two to three children. But I see a lot of fairly stable, accomplished people, myself among them, not getting there. They either fail to attract partners, or their relationships repeatedly fall apart until they age out of childbearing age. For me not having children was not ever a conscious decision. It just happened.
@@Volkbrecht That's true, it may indeed be also like this, in not so rare cases. And also without people's aware decision and their will about it, it just happens. And it's not easy, for sure. But also we can see nowadays that in the younger generations, being now in their twenties, there are more people saying they don't want to have in future any children at all. And also in fact there are really few families who have more than two children. Many people, since longer, have only one child or at most two (in case of majority of eople I know it's actually like this). By the way, I also don't have any brothers or sisters. However, immigration policy, especially such as is being forced currently in the EU (so accepting big waves of illegal immigrants, coming from all over the world, very often from cultures hostile towards European values, culture and even legal order) is not any solution, but it only brings more serious problems and threats, especially now when there are also so many serious risks coming from hostile undemocratic regimes.
I was born in 1990, the year of white horse. In Korea, there is a popular belief that girls born in the year of the white horse will be difficult to handle, which has led to many girls being aborted. There were always more boys than girls in the class, so the boys had to sit together. Some of my friends remember their grandmother saying things like, "The doctor thought you were a boy. You're lucky." So. Would a woman who grew up in this society want to do something for Korea? +In 1990, the male-to-female birth sex ratio was 115 boys for every 100 girls. For the third child, this sex ratio rises to 138.
I'm not Korean, but as a Chinese, I feel the same sentiment-- having my own issues to deal with, having my doubts in raising them, and realistically more difficult if that were a viable option with how many of us are financially struggling!
my own personal problem though, is as an Asian American with an immigrant parent, I'm still having to find myself uncomfortable, but necessary in having to speak up for myself in telling my mother constantly that I really don't want to have children in the future. I'm not discouraging others; it's just not for me.
@@theKingaurav We aren't even close to being overpopulated, and we're 55 years past passing below replacement rate. We're heading for a collapse. Only cities are jam-packed with people - like in South Korea. Half of the population lives in Seoul metropolitan area.
It’s happening around the world not just in South Korea, it’s more evident there because they are geographically a smaller country. Someone mentioned in the comments that only third world countries have high population, but the fact is that even in these third world countries young people are choosing not to have children. Gender wars are higher than ever, society is divided, capitalism and materialism has taken over. Job is stressful, people are overwhelmed and overworking, food rates are high, medical bills are high, rents are high, one can’t survive without two income household, educating a child is expensive, property prices are high. These are all the reasons many young people are opting out of marriage and having children. And very soon in the future, raising a child would be seen as a luxury.
Even without the economic aspect, the world is currently very unstable with wars going on and the climate changes being more or less ignored. Even in countries that have a lot of equality buffers and financial aid for parents, a lot of people consider not having children because they are unsure if this is a world they want to bring children into.
@@snowdrop118 That's true, a lot of wars everywhere and threat of war breaking out is looming over a lot of countries, future is insecure. It's better not to bring innocent lives in this world with a lot of uncertainty around all of us. Climate change is real as well and it's sad that majority of people don't take it seriously. There are forest fires every now and then, water is being polluted with chemicals, glaciers are melting, deserts are being flooded with rainfall. We have f*cked up earth for the next generation.
I'm European, I'll be 30 next week and I don't want kids. From what I've noticed, this problem is global and isn't confined to Korea. None of my friends are planning on having children either. Most have decided so because of the money issues. Raising a child is expensive, but some also just don't want to be reduced to just being a mother or a father. We've all worked hard for our careers and dreams and it's really hard letting that go just to have children. I honestly don't see a single positive thing in having children myself. I would only ever consider it if my partner really wanted them.
Positive thinks are: to receive a kiss from a children when you arrive at home, to know somebody sincerely love you, to know you are the hero of you kids, to sacrifice for somebody who love you. When you have kids all those individual "dreams" that you have before are nothing compared to the love that you feel.
It's to preserve your culture, too. Your countries are already being taken over by immigration cultures. Very soon, they will outnumber you, and your native population will no longer exist. See how even if the immigrants are poor they manage to have kids? You let the Trojan horse in and you are fuelling your own demise.
Just have kids. It will be the best decision you ever made. They provide constant entertainment, laugs, memories and a sense of fulfillment and purpose.
@@davinky1229 ... life before was hardest than today.... and families have kids. Today the life is less difficult than before. A lot of food, security, communication, options to learn... so.
In the 1970s, the Korean government advertised that only animals have multiple children, and that Koreans were now civilized, so they should have only one or two. People really internalized that. Young people don’t even know what happened to their society…. Now people are supposed to change.
Brazil also did that. There's no blamming for have one kid, but 2 or 3 nowadays brings some blame. The cost of living, and career thing is all bulshit, just a trap, after the 35, or 40 most of people just become tired to work, and this is normal even if is your dream job. Most of that complain about that have a pretty confortable life, I don't meant their are rich people, but far for poor. So, Korea and western countries are rich, but think about a poor country like Brazil facing birthrate fall. We literally don't have the infrastructure and economy to maintain a elder society.
@@wildswan221 nah its more abt ppl cant find the reason or any benefit to having children because most ppl in their 30s or below only have memory of going to academy and studying their ass off while not having any quality time with their family. Ppl who grew up with lots of good memories with their parents and family naturally want to have children because they want to give them the same experience.
7:34 that lady is speaking the truth. No one can afford to buy a house anymore, why would you have a child if you can't even secure a proper roof over your head? I know I never would. House first, children second. Maybe the government should do something about this than just fearmonger us about the declining birth rate.
서로가 서로를 심판하는 사회인지라 서로가 감시당하는 사회. 질서와 규칙이 사회를 지배하는 선많은 사회. 상상을 초월한 위계질서적인 문화. 가족의 가치를 경시하는 사회. 가정에서 조차 위계서열 잡는 사회. 걍 자유 평등이 없고 위계질서적인 사회. 한살 차이만 나도 위계구조. 유쾌함은 눈씻고 찾아볼수 없는 나라.
Koreans think how to raise kids properly before giving birth. They are responsible enough to understand that if they can provide good life to their kids only then they will bring them on earth. I wish Indians think in this way. Irrespective of social status or income, being poor or middle class or rich, once a boy or girl grows to a marriageable age, they are getting married, some of them may not have stable income too. After marriage societal pressure is there to give birth. Irrespective of jow much India develops in science & technology, there is no change in this thought.
I'm Indian and childfree, but that's definitely not normal for sure. Family members are baffled and choosing to ignore my stance (for now lol) and although my friends are supportive, just last month one of them thought it was a compliment to tell me I'd make a really good parent. Sigh. I do wish I knew more childfree people here, though.
When you look at real families though you realize that it's an idiotic, avoidant attitude. Of course it's not easy raising kids, but most people that have them manage somehow. Getting a kid from birth through university takes more than 20 years. Can you really plan that far ahead into the future? Do you have any idea how your career will develop, if the company you work for or even the industry you specialised in will still be around? In reality, once you see you make enough to feed your kids for the foreseeable future, that's when you could go for it. Because realistically that is as secure as you can ever plan to be.
@@Volkbrecht I see where you're coming from. Your statement does hinge on what a "real" family is though. I'm certain we have different definitions. Also, if choosing not to do something simply because you don't want to do it is an "idiotic, avoidant attitude", then every human in the world is idiotic and avoidant, aren't they? At least, whatever you choose to do has the benefit of you wanting to do it, so it's worth it in that sense. Much better attitude than jumping headlong off a cliff just because most people are doing it (since the thought of having a child carries a similar feeling of disorientation and terror in this childfree person lol), yes? But hey, you do you!
I also think social media has show young Koreans that life doesn't have to be one way or you're doomed. Even though I'm past my reproductive years, I have found in the last 20 years that I have learned so much through coming across different contents here on UA-cam. My mind has been expanded and I see a much broader world then ever before.
Korea needs to end the normalcy for kids to go to after school academies. It's unnecessary money spent and waste of time for children, let kids be kids. school is not life.
But people need to find a job later, to be able to earn for their living, especially if they don't live in the capital and don't finish an university. That's the problem.
They also need to realize that the more people study the same thing, the less valuable the degree. In most professions, grades don't mean much when you forget the material, which is inevitable when it lacks relevance. The only time when school is necessary is when you're going into a licensed profession or maybe trade school. Anything else is a waste of time and money. E-learning is the best alternative
@@michaelrespicio5683 You're obviously an American. "School is useless" and then you guys can't even tell the difference between their, they're and there; or don't know where Spain is on a map
@@milena39 Lmao touched a nerve, yeah? First of all, good guess but not American, pal. Second, not every American is as clueless as you might believe. And third...your lack of reading comprehension. You're quoting something I never said, nor did I use one of those 3 homonyms, or do you need a dictionary to look up what that means? Not my fault if you wasted so much time and money on a useless degree, can't find opportunities with it, and paying off loans with a job you hate while the rest of us get ahead. Have fun being among the first to get replaced by AI!
Not korean but what the lady said at the last minute is something to be considered. I agree with her. I mean like a problem like stunting then for that problem to decrease is to find the root cause and find a solution to the root cause. And it's a long fight. Also need many departments involved not just health or nutrition.
It's not his choice though. Now he is single and has wishes like any other person but when he gets married the choice should be his wife's. After all we bare all the hardships of a pregnancy not them!
Just from this interview alone, it is clear that the cost of living is getting too high. Many young people feel like they can barely afford to support themselves let alone raising a kid. One of these issues is the high housing costs. So if the government truly wants to make a difference, they need to address these concerns. I think if the government would help subsidize a large amount of the housing cost for any young couples with kids, it would go a long way in addressing this issue. Spending any money in the media just telling people this is a serious issue and telling them to have more kids would be a real waste of money without addressing many of the basic financial concerns by the government.
인터뷰에서 보여줬듯이 여성들은 커리어를 포기해야 한다. 육아를 위해 일을 쉬면 퇴직을 강요당하고, 그 다음에는 저임금 노동을 할 수밖에 없다. 즉, 아이를 키우면 실제로 아이를 키울 돈이 충분하지 않습니다. 좋은 회사에 근무하고 휴직을 해도, 다음 문제는 아이의 유치원. 정부는 저출산에 맞춰 공립유치원 수를 줄였다. 문제는 공립유치원의 부족이 아이러니하게도 공립유치원에 갈 수 있는 좋은 위치에 있는 가정의 임대료를 올린다는 점이다. 즉, 자녀를 유치원에 보내려면 비싼 사립 유치원에 보내거나 비싼 임대료를 지불해야 합니다. 초등학교와 중학교의 체인에서도 같은 문제가 발생합니다. 육아 비용의 죽음의 소용돌이 같은 거죠.. 그 밖에도 사회 구조적 문제가 많지만 댓글로 적기는 어렵다
What scares me is that one parent is not enough to support a kid. With half of the marriages ending in divorce I can't bring myself to plan a child knowing that as a mother I'll have to carry a weight of raising them. Aliments can do only so much when you have to pay for rent and childcare and food. I'm sorry but having a child today is luxury I can't afford.
I've lived in Korea for 11 years and the first thing I always hear about having kids is the cost. (That it is super expensive) The funny thing, is it is NOT. (I've saved so much over 11 years and I own an apt now) Parents choose to make it expensive because Korea has such a competitive nature. Parents think they HAVE to send their kids to private academies everyday to improve their chances at success in life which can cost hundreds or thousands a week, and you hear about this in the news "having a child costs this much a week!". And these academies aren't just boring subjects, these include sports, robotics, coding, dance, etc. And in the Korean kids' culture, they often feel like a loser if they don't go to all the academies and their friends do (even if they don't like the subject). At school you hear kids say, "I learned A yesterday" and another kids rebuts, "well I learned B, A is easy". So, even the kids can pressure parents into going to the "hagwons". The second thing is kind of strange. Koreans feel like you need to have completed a checklist before you can even THINK ABOUT getting married and having children. example: I have a job and make A amount of money [X], I have a car [X], I have an apartment owned [X], My partner meets A B C requirements [X], My parents approve of everything in my life [X], and now I can finally have a kid. For most, it's not even an option until these are met. Were as in the west, people just make babies and go with the flow and make it work financially. Koreans are perfectionists and planners so you really need to be in a good position to even consider it. Third, I think the over-time work culture + academy culture combined to have a strange effect where for the past 30ish years families have become less "loving". Compared to the west, family members see each other WAY less. Perhaps only weekend dinners. So these kids grow up not seeing the joy a family brings, and they raise their kids the same way, so less kids dream about starting a family and dream about making money more. And lastly, I think the "I want to stay cool" point is also true. So a lot of their money is budgeted to have a cooler life style, but they could easily afford to have a kid, that goes to 1 private academy a week. I really think this generation of parents need to spend more time with their kids, and when these kids grow up they'll want to have kids too. The best fix I believe is to have ALL academies close by 7pm (will never happen because they will make less money), because a lot of kids stay out until 11pm and eat dinner with friends and when they finally get home they do their school and academy homework. Plus, companies need to have no overtime policies, so parents and kids actually get to spend time together. You can make the cost of living crazy cheap, and parents will use that extra budget to send the kids to more academies haha. You gotta show this generation of kids what the joy of having a family is, or else they are just going to repeat what their parents and grandparents have done.
I couldn’t agree more. I’m a fan of the kdrama and I am aware about everything that you’ve mentioned above. I’ve learned a lot; the good and the bad things. South Korea remains one of the world’s most homogeneous nations not only applies to their ethnicity but also their mindset. Being competitive is good for you to be able to improve yourself as long as it’s not causing you emotional distress. This is what happens to them. The government has an important roles to make it happen. They should start developing rural areas and to be able to create more jobs opportunities so that people can move out from Seoul. That is the only way to achieve the ideal population density to be ecologically stable. So the rest of the cost of living problems gradually will be solved. Sadly it’s not going to happen anywhere soon.
To be fair though, even if you don't have to send your child to good schools for their survival having a competetive edge is huge in Korean society. Low education results in low income jobs and people in poverty in Korea struggle a lot. Why would you want to bring your child into a society if you feel like you can't give them a fighting chance to make a life for themselves? That's so selfish and short-sighted.
I saw a korean TV show ep about the only pediatric surgeon in Korea. The man was ready to get retired but he couldn't leave without having a substitute, he was very worried waiting for his students to finally get their degrees... there were many kids needing surgery but there was only him there to work
It is true that many things that were given up for rapid growth quickly developed Korea, which had nothing left after the war. However, the side effects began to appear in the 1990s, and the problem is getting worse due to the old generations who couldn't let go of their pride in the era of growth.
Not really it's the samething happening everywhere right now and it actually kind of started back in the 80s for alot of these countries people prioritizing career over family, the U.S included. Korea and Japan are suffering faster because they're smaller (like the size of one U.S state). The problem with Korea and Japan is that most of the population has all moved to the big city, which in turn made everything there super expensive so all these people complaining about it's to expensive to raise a child, it's mostly because of where they chose to live and also listen to what they spend money on sending your kid to 12 different private schools and English lessons, my cousins all learned English, they literally only use it when I'm around never at their actual jobs so seems like a waste of money. The Korean side of my family is from the Gangwon Province stuff is alot cheaper there especially seafood, it's not super rural but definately not big city and most of those people are still having kids living life just fine, but they're the minority and alot of them are labeled as poor farmers/fishermen. It's funny to me people in these comments just complain about being controlled by a man not wanting to have a family but will at the sametime literally slave away at a job that cares nothing about them(usually also run by.....a man). People choosing career over family is wild to me when you can see the outcome of the people who started this, they're literally giving out companion dolls to elderly lonely Korean women to try to deal with their depression and suicide rate from being alone. The other major thing most people don't think thru is they're not even gonna be able to afford to be old and alone, the Korean pension is set to run dry in 30 years because of the declining birthrates that means alot less workers to contribute to the program so alot of these people in their 20s and 30s aren't gonna have any pension come retirement time, in the U.S it's even less Social Security is set to run out in 15 years. It didn't help that alot of these countries were essentially very isolated to outsiders, so not alot of interracial marriages to help with the birth rates over the years, I saw a interview K Explorer did awhile back where he talked to alot of the elderly koreans and asked how they would feel now if a foreigner wanted to marry their child and the majority were actually open to it as long as there was love because they fear that at this rate Korea will end up back in poverty where as before it would be a strong no lol.
How dare Korea pressure young people to have children when their own rhetoric is so anti feminism. So much self sacrifice goes into being a mother but imagine just how much harder it is when public spaces restrict children, publicly your condemned for everything you do (a mother taking her children to a restaurant is looked down upon for not cooking meals at home), domestic violence runs rampant, women are often discriminated against for WANTING motherhood (lower salaries and no promotions for married women because they believe children are imminent and they’ll lose their employee) like its crazy. On the other side of the aisle, for the men I can only imagine the crazy pressure to provide. Getting your own apartment is as expensive as buying a home in the west. The dating culture alone is so isolating already. There is a HUGE cultural gap that the Korean government is not accounting for.
It’s striking how well spoken and polite they are. A lot of them went straight to analysis/statistics in their answers, you can tell they are well educated.
If you're young, make money in another country, and when SK real estate is dirt cheap in 20 years buy all you can, because I'm sure Korea will rebound and be stronger again in 40 years.
Women who is willing to have a baby in Korea, is brave and/or naive. It is hard for women to live as a working mom, and little chance father will pay child support if they divorce. Good luck. 워킹맘 힘들죠, 한국에선 이혼해도 양육비 거의 못받는데 애를 낳는 건, 본인과 친정 엄마 개고생. 한국에서 아이난 여자분들 용감하고 순진하신듯. 행운을 빕니다.
Why do you expect a divorce? People who have children are normal functioning human beings. You life-hating fallen people are spreading misery and fear while we live in the most prosperous and peaceful era of human history.
I hope you can get a correspondent in Singapore to interview Singaporeans about the fertility crisis there too. Singapore has a fertility rate of 0.97, the second lowest in the world and the fertility rates among Singapore's three main ethnic groups are all below replacement level too - Chinese: 0.94, Indian: 0.97 and Malay: 1.83.
Funny thing is people always clown on Japan having worst birthrates but it never reached below 1.2 It's 1.4 same goes for working hours while Japan works less hours than Canada or USA
One issue I keep seeing mentioned is the cost of additional after school educational opportunities that are considered necessary due to the competitive nature of Korean society. I wonder if offering vouchers for these programs would be helpful in taking some of the burden off of families
It's my pure speculation but if those vouchers were given, I'd imagine that those businesses will just jack up the price, as they already figured out that the parents are willing to dish out the $$$ they were already charging for. The real issue is, as you've mentioned, is within the nature of the society - competitiveness. It will most likely end up government giving out free $$$ to those businesses through tax payer's $$.
Actually public schools offer a lot of afterschool programs so kids can get good afterschool activities for much less money or (free for poor families). Parents want to choose the best afterschool activities for the kids , and some activities are more expensive than others . If parents and kids get less ambitious about all those hakwon lessons, they can do less expensive, good afterschool programs at school.
Everybody is talking a lot about S.Korea but the west is the same. The only difference is that the west allows easy inmigration. If the west counted native birthrate only, it would be similar. We are the first generation that realized how much an unstable parenting can ruin your wellbeing and we don't want to give that to our future kids but at the same time it's becoming more and more difficult to provide such environment.
The birth rate in the west (e.g. US, EU) is twice that of Korea, so no, it's not the same at all. It's true that many Western countries would also experience a population decline were it not for immigration, but Korea's situation is much, much worse. It's not really comparable at all.
@@SimonGrayDK Nah, this is just a logical fallacy. Many countries like germany had to relax inmigration policies to not end up like South Korea. If we take Spain as an example with a birthrate of 1.3 as of today, and we take into account that 32% (according to official data) of births come from inmigrant parents, the result is 0.9 which is on par with South Korea as of today if we only take into account both parents being native.
@words-island1011 Well they simply don't care. AI is replacing more and more humans as we speak and that's pretty much the only thing that people at the top want from people at the bottom.
@@morheimtv5666 Your math is incorrect. If you discount those 32% of births, then you must also not include the population of immigrants in the fertility rate calculations for natives, as the native population is smaller than the total population. There is absolutely no western country whose native population fertility rate is even close to as bad as south korea, though some are still pretty low, south korea is in a league of its own. Truly a doomed country.
Children of immigrants making the same reproductive choices as their American born counterparts proves this. Many grow up being burdened with caring for siblings or crowded into rooms sharing beds and sleeping on floors. They don't want to live that life again once they escape it.
15:21 I was born in 🇰🇷 and bred in 🇳🇿. It’s been about 1 and a half years since I returned to 🇰🇷. I am planning to return to 🇳🇿 in the near future because 🇰🇷’s future won’t become brighter. This is the reality for many Korean women since their work colleagues generally do not like women going on maternity leave. The main reason is that the workload from female workers on maternity leave will be redistributed, putting more pressure on their colleagues in general. My motherland is doomed..
All countries are going down but South Korea is faster. Workload and Maternity leave issues have already existed for decades, actually are only getting better. In my opinion, the real problem is that how Koreans feel about it. Since 2017 Korean birth rate has been rapidly decreasing, it looks like it's related to the spread of social media. Because of that the culture of comparing each other has intensified and the people have started to think that they can't raise children if they are not as good as others. This can explain why birth rates in developed countries are also falling.
@@tamatama1your sight maybe also in the point. But in my opinion the direct reason is aborting or murdering girls in 1980~2000. This is the reason why Korea's birth rate is more rapidly decreasing than other countries. Additional its also just my think why decreasing birth rate is just we had so much birth in the past on simple all over the world. But i can sure the social media affects the happiness.
@@야호-s4hYes, China had that issue too which is why they have a shortage of girls so a lot of guys had to marry foreigners. Korea may have to go down that route if they don’t boost their birthrate.
It takes a village to raise a children. When people stop to expect that women give up of the whole life to raise a child by her self maybe things change
No it doesn't. It takes two parents. And yeah we get, you are completely selfish and self-centered to the degree that the most normal function of human existence seems to be an impossible burden now. You externalize all of your immaturity into unrealistic demands while simultaneously leeching off the benefits of the most prosperous and peaceful society without contributing to it. Reproduction and family == human life. There is NOTHING without it.
As many have pointed out, the issues are government and living costs. It makes it difficult and intimidating to start a family when financials are uncertain in your later life. Another factor is, that women can make a living for themselves. So many don't see the need to find a man.
Women not being dependent on men is a huge factor in most of these population talks. In every single first world country women at large will choose this. Even in Europe where they have cushions and safety nets and men able to take months off for childcare, many women will choose not to have children or depend on a man. Honestly why would that ever be the better choice individually?
@@Riu-bw4bl You should see marriage rates of women by age. It's fascinating. It steadily increases with a sudden dip around 40s due to divorce and a very quick turn around. The vast majority of women over 50 are married. Women are all about being boss girls until they're old and tired of toiling away at the widget factory. Most prefer to depend on men by that age.
The only solution is to minimize government and stop all of these subsidies that allow people to exist without contributing. No free university degrees, no free lunches.
18:30 She nailed it on the head. It's not even South Korea that needs to do this. It's every developed country in the world. Stop asking why people aren't having kids and go change society from the ground up. Change what it means to be alive. Right now everywhere its about work, work, and more work. Everyone is working constantly but only a handful at the top enjoy the luxuries of life. The rest make barely enough and basically have no time to actually live life. Why would I want to bring kids to come experience this mess?
I believe the people in charge are making a lot of money for themselves which also explains what they mean by “ What happened to all the money they invested “ and I believe a solution the Korean people can do is that they can all collaborate and confront the government about the issues and say “ if you want us to have children do this and this “ and if the government truly cares they will try their best to fix it. otherwise Korea and Koreans might parish if nothing is changed.
I feel that the best solution for them is to increase mental/mood therapy provided by the government, offer mothers a friendly welcome back to the workforce, dismantle patriarchy, and educate men/sons about sharing household responsibilities. Also, make them stop the thinking of being perfect.
Personal experience here: the English kindergarden question in the video and in the comment section made realise that there's probably of a lot of parents paying extremely expensive English classes for their children. If you, who is reading this, do that, I would advice you to stop. Language isn't something you can learn but having a really good teacher and buying a bunch of books. English is my second language and I can assure you no teacher taught me English. Languages is something you need to pratice, immerse yourself into, and have someone to pratice with. These goes for any language. Maybe no one will see this or even disagree, but if you genuinely want to learn a language: find a native speaker of your desired language or a friend to also learn the language and practice with them, the rest is somewhere for free on apps like Doulingo or Babbel.
I don’t agree because if you want to learn any language properly, you need a teacher to teach you. Immersion and all that comes after you form a foundation from classes and instruction. Otherwise, you will just be speaking randomly. People will understand you, but you will never speak properly. I studied SLA so know it all too well. I teach languages and have learned languages. It is not that simple.
@@TrinhNguyen-sh4fj if people understand you then its not random. Its a slang/ crappy form of the language. most of history people did not study language but picked it up over time.
I really think that Korean culture needs to change and stop almost vilifying single parents households and have more places that help those parents and children. There also needs to be incentives to have kids in Korea but living there is a grind and will make people want to just fend for themselves and not want to have kids. It was brutal for my mom back in the 90s and doesn't seem like much has changed. Let's not even talk about the "hidden" homeless crisis there.
@@bigbadwulf5785 It should not be the norm,but you should not discriminate against them too. People divorce, widow and other reasons too. Who chooses to be a single parent if they did not have to be?
I think the ultimate causes of low birth rate across all countries, not just SK (but SK has it the worst by far) is simple. When people had kids in the past, it was not to sustain happiness but simply to keep up with societal expectations of what people should do during that time. This expectation also came from the idea that having more kids would lead to more economic stability in the future, since more kids can work in the family business or the fields etc.. This is why developing countries still have high birth rates, since the idea that kids can work in their family business or earn for their families is still prevalent. In developed countries, most people end up working for large corporations, which leads to more competition for jobs. More competition means children have to be trained more thoroughly, thus increasing childcare costs. The balance of the benefits of having kids vs the costs becomes much more askewed, thus leading to the young generation of developed countries to opt out of children to become more competitive. Thats why the problem is not purely cultural values nor economic values--its both. Even if Koreans decided tomorrow that having kids is tantamount for their future, it would not solve the expectation of children needing to have xyz to be competitive in the future society and to live decent lives. That expectation and standard has to be lowered. The issue with South Korea is that its Hell Josseon, where 90% of the countrys jobs and wealth come from a few major business families--which ultimately makes those jobs so goddamn competitive. So as long as those companies continue to maintain that standard, either nothing will change or people will have to accept living in poverty to be able to keep families.
I am a gen x male and the main reason I chose to be single for my life is that I saw in the 80's have much humanity doesn't care about the environment, where money was more important than human beings and the corrupt / discriminant societal foundations that mainly pandered to the political / money elite (not n=much has changed and getting worse) etc. This is why I never wanted to bring children into a unsafe place to exist.
Seoul is everything it seems like..no other cities can even compete..when all your eggs are in one basket its gonna collapse..south Korea needs other cities to develop in jobs and communities which will help keep competitiveness prices down. Thats more of a government issue. What south koreans are not thinking is there jobs will shrink they will work way more harder and longer hours and the prices will skyrocket so much all the dreams of every south korean will be completely squashed. These people go to college and this is taught in most basic classes on how populations and business work...by 2050 it will be too late ...investors will pull out etc...but i feel there pain..that one guy said it best..cant keep up with inflation.
The interesting thing is they have 5 cities with more than 1 million and others with hundreds of thousands of people. Surely they are not miserable? It drives me mad to see real estate articles in English language news talking about increase or decline and always bringing up Gangnam and always Seoul. In the U.S. we don’t only hear about Beverly Hills. Why is only .5% of units of concern?
@@an0nycat .5% live in Gangnam. Not only is it about living in Seoul there is elitism over which part. The press is always using Gangnam as the benchmark. Prices were up .7% this month in Gangnam. It’s like only hearing about US real estate what happened in Beverly Hills. Or Palo Alto. And that does something to public mindset. It suggests what happened there happened everywhere, which it may not have. And it suggests it’s the only place that matters. You know why so many live in half basements in Seoul. The address. They could live in a perfectly fine 18P place with multiple rooms somewhere else, even within the capital region.
I'm not even from Korea, but I can completely relate to the reasons they've given here. Having and raising kids properly (i.e. giving them all they need, familial and economic stability, making sure they grow up kind and competent and with a fighting chance for themselves), especially in this time of economic hardships, really starts to seem like a faraway and impossible dream. We can barely afford a proper home or healthcare for ourselves, what in the world would make us think we can give those to our kids.
South Korea is richer than ever in the history of its existence? This money argument doesn't make any sense because in the poorest countries people have a lot more children.
It's really sad that Korean people think that if they are married or raising children, they have to give up their carrier. In my country, even a woman have children they still can continue their carrier and do whatever they want. they have commitment with their husbands so they can think how to raise their children together. They don't have to give up their job just because they married.
If a woman in Korea has a child, then they are going to face a lot of discrimination in the workplace. People will think that because they are mothers, they will not perform their work has good has before. Also, they will be judged for working rather than staying at home with their children. So yeah, if they have children they will most likely have to give up on their career. I'm sure that you can find videos about it on UA-cam.
@@laurelabouffetrue, and they don't offer the programs that other countries offer such as paternity leave so they don't make it easy on mothers at all to keep their jobs. If anything they turn being a mother into a hurdle.
Korea has one of the highest women's rights in the world. Higher the women's rights, lower the birth rates. Husbands want the wife to either work or be a committing housewife but the wives are just lazy and complain about how they're getting discriminated against when it's just that they're incompetent and don't put in the effort. No wonder 80% of Korean citizenship renouncements are men. Korean men are now flying out of the country in droves to live in foreign countries and/or find foreign wives.
I think one of the primary problems in SK is that a fifth of the population is literally concentrated in Seoul. The housing prices are exacerbated because of the economic impact of one major city, which in itself is a problem as it causes different things like discrepancies in tax base and where those taxes are being dispersed as a result of Seoul. It’s not uncommon for people to be commuting from out of Seoul and for long commutes at that, most likely having to struggle with finding housing within the city to fix that shortcoming. The birth rate problem is a complex, nuanced issue that takes into account cultural reasons, economic reasons, and the nature of a society that has built itself on a foundation of hypercapitalism. Despite this, it would 100% be a great start if Seoul is no longer the only major city in South Korea.
I was born in South Korea but immigrated as a kid. I’ve had a very successful career and have also been able to have two kids. My husband and I make it work. We have two demanding careers. I feel sad that these young Koreans feel they have to choose.
If women doesn't want kids, Then it’s end of discussion, a woman shouldn't have kids, just cause a man wants one. I’m not arguing, im just writing this, if someone starts saying, that a woman must have kids
Did we watch the same video? It seems like most wanted kids, but both men and women seemed to think of it as a big financial burden. As in they can't afford it.
pay more, more rights to women, more paternity paid leave, start supporting stay at home moms, allow your population more paid vacation/LOA. Stop stereotyping paternal roles where the dad(s) holds a job, and the mom stays at home to do all the work. People want balance, teamwork, community and cooperation...every country is blaming the young for doing what we were told (go to a good school/get a good job) but now...they don't want to pay us for our hard work. How can anyone, no matter how many children we want, be able to afford a child if we can't afford ourselves. People in the early 20th century could live off of 20$ for a whole week...now, 20$ will barely get you a full tank of gas, groceries, hell it can barely get you lunch!
The issue isn’t gender equality. It’s a big issue, but it’s not the main reason people aren’t having kids. It’s the extreme work culture and the high costs of living, especially since everyone wants to live in Seoul, because everything is centered around there.
Company get loss when they give paternity leave of 12 months cause the work is transferred to other people. So i guess it is impossible what you are asking for
Everything you listed are the reasons why people aren't creating families. All this "I want" stuff from the government is why people don't take control of their lives and live autonomously. People are entitled and just wait for handouts. You are not owed anything. The more resources women get, the less likely they are to do anything productive - including nurturing a family. The more resources a man gets, the more willing he is to have people depend on him.
And what does BlackRock do as a company in the USA, among others. You easily see problems in other places forgetting you have the exact same circumstances. If not worse.
@@tresphorempundu3185 BlackRock is overhyped by social media. Just like WEF or other BS. Compare BlackRock to Samsung or Hyundai. It like 30k car to 300k car
@@tresphorempundu3185 Blackrock represents a low percentage of the US economy because the US economy is so massive and more diverse. Samsung alone represents like 15-20% of the Korean GDP and the Chaebols combined are like more than 30%, that is not sustainable.
@@fedyx1544 I know, but BlackRock is just one among many huge corporations in America. Blackrock alone has assets close to 11 trillion dollars. Don't underestimate the amount of power they have in USA.
한국은 애를 가질려면 일단 결혼을 해야하고 한국에서 결혼이라는것은 양가가족과 일하던 회사에서 모두 동의를 받고 일련의 가족합병의식을 거쳐야 한국사회에서 인정하는 결혼관계가 성립된다 기본적으로 여기서 한 사람이 대략 35년간 모아둔 전부 재산이 사회 재분배의 과정을 거치고 커다란 빚을 떠안게 된다(전세집 구하기,예물,스드메,식장비용 등등등).즉 상당부분의 청년들이 결혼 자체를 부담스러워서 못한다 안정적인 연애를 하고 둘다 백수도 아니고 모아둔돈도 있고 가족들도 합조적이라 커플이 결혼을 했다 치자 아이를 한명만 낳는다쳐도 가구월소득 최소 400만원은 되어야 하는데,한국사회에서 결혼까지 할 수 있는 20대초반~30대 중반의 부부는 대부분 이 수준을 충족하나,여자가 임신출산을 하는 도중는 남자가 외벌이로 그만큼 벌어야 함. 여자는 출산휴가 인정해주는 직장 아니면 경력단절을 각오해야하니 대부분 아이를 낳고 전업주부로써 평생을 살아갈지 커리어활동을 선택할지의 기로에 놓이게 됨 반면 미국은 십대부터 미혼모가 되는것에 거리낌이 없다 심지어 미혼모인 상태로 애를 계속 낳는다 그 아이들이 학교에 가서 미혼모 아이라고 손가락질당할일도 없다 아이는 연애의 산물도 아니고 그냥 섹스의 산물인 듯하다 극빈층이던 장애인이던 중산층 15살 딸내미던 애를 그냥 낳는다.어디 정부지원이나 받아먹으면서 마약빨면서 애키우기도 하고,미혼모인 상태로 유명인이 될수도 있고 국회의원이 될 수도 있다 반면 한국은 미혼모가 가질수 있는 직업은 식당직원, 편순이 정도가 되겠다.
Almost all the children that come from teenage pregnancies including the underage parents are not treated as well as you think. A lot of them are kicked out by their families before they graduate highschool, and their children are bullied because of the words the adults around them say. Often, the underage parents don't mature quick enough to parent their children, and many are deadbeats due to running away. The US might not have the same problems when it comes to birthrate declining, but they have their own separate issues that aren't talked about all that much either.
@@jihyungpark535 but its true that you can still make it and there are plenty of kids from such households who get out and can work in high positions. Its definitely not as impossible as it is in Korea. Also the stigma wont follow you into university, and it also wont follow you into your job or impede you from getting married and having children that are born into a good family -> the cycle can be broken!. I get what you're saying though, I do remember some kids being bullied but it came more from adults than the kids (and it was often more so pity than bullying). Life isn't easy but there's hope :)
The birthrate in the US is well below replacement value, currently around 1.66. (2.1 is replacement.) The only reason why the US population is not declining is because the US has massive, industrial-scale immigration, of a sort that only a few other countries do (Australia, Canada). But the US has been doing it for longer than those other countries and the consequence is that the actual population of the US is demographically changing very rapidly. In 1950, the US was 85% White people. Today, it is 57%. Within 10-15 years, it will be less than 50%. South Korea could spare itself oblivion by just accepting lots of immigrants. But would the average Korean be willing to become a statistical minority in their own country? I suspect most would actually prefer oblivion, unironically. And, in fairness, what's the point of survival if the price you pay is that you're not _you_ anymore? Have "you" really survived if your people have simply been replaced by other people in your own lands? It's a very arguable point.
here;s the thing. i did not study and work my as$ off just to suddenly stop working and risking my promotion and income just because i have to carry my baby for 9 months and take care of it. if my job is guaranteed that it wont affect anything after my pregnancy and motherhood, i dont mind. but i know it doesnt work like that and im not in that position yet. im not the kind of person who trust people to take care of my child too because i dont want to be an absent parent. i dont want to give birth to someone so they just suffer in this world. so i'd rather not to have children and just have partner or no partner at all. maybe i have become too comfortable in my single life.
For more authentic insights like this from Asia, you can watch some of our exclusive videos not available on UA-cam for free here: asianboss.io/yt/123-exclusivevideos
Could you make videos around the world, about
"mix DNA of BABY CLONING to maintain population?"
And their future work to be police, soldier, firefighter, work for the government, etc.
I think already aplicable ro japan korea US, Caucasian Population, etc;
even in my country the smart people somehow dont want to gave kids(indonesia)
House to expensive for new family . Old rich people have 4 home As an investment. Increase house prices
It is pretty impressive listening and reading what these people have to say, clearly a very intelligent population who use their brain it is shocking how mentally challenged the average WASP American person is in the US, yet somehow the country functions! If u were to do the same random sample questions in the states the quality of answers in comparison would be a 2 out of 10 vs what I just saw, ie 9 out of 10 on average from every one you asked. Not just this issues, any issue. It is surprising how the US with such an average mentally challenged population is not a fourth world country.
You should also interview Bangladeshis for comparison
Let's be completely honest here.
Economists say that regulated immigration is the best way to increase the birth rate in any developed nation.
This means taking Visa from skilled people AND vetted refugees.
Places like Korea and Japan are very xenophobic and have laws that allow legal discrimination based on foreign status.
This drives away people will skills like teaching and business from becoming permanent residents.
Until these countries stop valuing racial purity, birth rates will continue to plummet.
Why would Young Koreans, especially women, want to have kids? They grew up in that hyper competitive environment and know how stressful it is to be doing school work 12 hours a day, 18 hours a day, and only getting 5 hours of sleep. And if you're the mother, you can kiss your career goodbye. You get discriminated against openly for being a mother with no promotions, barely any raises, and people pressuring you to quit to be a stay at Home mother. If you work outside the home, you still have a full time job with ALL the domestic duties unless you luck out with a helpful father. And the father never sees their family, having to work crazy hours to make up for the lack of a second income, and that's only if the overtime is even PAID in the first place. It often times isn't. And the after work forced socialization when all you want to do is go home and see your wife and kid is the key to promotions. You have to be a "team player". Korea is suffering from hyper capitalism in a country that expanded super fast from abject poverty after the Korean War to one of relative prosperity in 50 years. Society hasn't kept up, and it's punishing the young and the weak.
Hyper capitalism, because every capitalists society is just like or close to Korea am I right?
Maybe if the Koreans wouldn't let their government be controlled by for profit only corporations maybe they would see the regulatory changed required to have better birth rates. Things like, family first, profit second.
@@Assarabiyah 9h+ 5h of school makes about 14h if you want to get in a sky university. Add 2h for transportation and bathroom, 1h for eating and shower, 1-2h for using your cellphone or doing chores such as going to the market or cleaning dishes, and you're left with about about 5-6 hours of sleep
Doesn't that apply to women everywhere (except probably Europe where they get proper maternity leaves etc)
@@Laura-dn1zx No It's not. 9 hours mean 9 hours. Not 9 hours+ school
@@Laura-dn1zx ...If you study in school...
4:28 she said it all. If the government wants them to have kids, they have to change the environment and policies and norms for them to WANT to have kids.
💯💯💯💯
Which country in the world has the "correct environment" and policies for women to have kids?
@@georgecrumb8442Norway, Switzerland, Finland...
@@mlkh8073 ...all have declining, below-replacement birth rates.
@@georgecrumb8442 You are right. But it is also true their governments supply them with support. In their case it's because of people's own desires cause the declining birth rate.
If I was a man, I'd also like to have children but since I am not and I am the one who has to give birth, be pregnant, risk my health, probably my career, I don't.
It's actually not that complicated.
Not even talking about money, housework and child care here.
It's significantly harder on the women but a lot of men don't understand that tbh
@@strawberryynoodlesauce Yes!! It's such a huge difference and yet politicians are in riddles! Like it wasn't the most obvious reason of them all. Why do rich people have surrogates. Come on.
@@MrsStrawhatberry Yeah cause working and motherhood is hard, effects on your body and mental health will get crazy, I've seen it. So rich ppl like you mentioned don't wanna ruin themselves so they get some poor woman and pay her to give them a kid. The ones who do have their own kids may have just wanted their actual own for certain reasons but they have the resources to not work or do anything for a bit while they recover and they're stable. Normal women with normal husbands / BF's suffer the most, or worse, single moms who's partner left
Then don't give birth, the system will self regulate and these anti-natalist ideas of yours will disappear with you, but the majority of women who actually are mature enough to give birth will live on with their lives and their children as the world didn't absolutely change regardless you decided to give birth or no.
Interesting nature gave you no choice in the mater tradionally. You could chose your partener or abstain from a relationship. So you are chosing to kill your family tree from fear. The best medicins in recorded history gives you no hope. Fear is a curse is it not.
My parents told me ‘you can enjoy your life when you became an adult, so stop playing and study.’
That’s why I’m enjoying my life instead of having a child or getting married.😂😂
Raised by Korean parents, I was taught that I was a failure as a human because I was not the best at anything so I have no desire to bring a person into the cruel world that I was brought up in.
you don't have to be like your parents, you know lol.
@@snowballeffect7812this person probably doesn’t speak just for himself but for A LOT of Koreans who got raised without any love or affection and no matter how hard you want it to be easy but a lot of adults are simply said emotional not able to be a good and loving parent because of how they got raised.
@@orphaxx1254 yeah, and all I'm saying is that they don't have to do be like that lol. We should strive to be better instead of making essentialist excuses. They don't have to be a parent if they don't want to, but the reason should not be "because I am a bad person like my parents were" lol.
@@snowballeffect7812 like the judgmental person you are coz you got it from SOMEWHERE?? judging someone on the internet for their PERSPECTIVE, like its not valid. WHAT THEY HAVE LIVED, IS TRUE AND VALID FOR THEM, even their decision to change, should it come organically.
@@LostSoulchild89 reading comprehension is not your strong suit, huh. idc if they have kids or not, but they should not plan to become bad people; that seems silly. It's like saying "I'll fail my finals anyway, so why bother studying?" a month before the exam.
Mothers don‘t get the respect they deserve. Every country whines how they need more children but in reality children and mothers are not treated well. Children should only be seen and never heard. If they act out it‘s the mothers fault and besides being a mother is not even seen as a job. You don‘t get enough financial help so why would young people want children?
the society chose the government and when the government doesn*t support families its a self made crisis. So its unfair to shove guilt into womens shoes or desire couples to have children. When there are so bad conditions no one is able to raise children properly.
This!
IMO, this is a scene not only in Korea but everywhere in the world. Cost of living is increasing non stop, richer gets richer and middle income earners are squeeze till it's difficult to breath. So it's no surprise that many younger generations opt to take care of their own first instead of thinking to start a family.
Except poor one in third world countries. I still see them have many babies
@@memeherp166Even Nigeria's fertility rate is beginning to decline as they industrialisze
@@memeherp166even they see their birth rate in decrease as their literacy slowly gradually goes up.
Even immigrants who are often used to boost birth rates end up adopting the sane habits of natives and within a generation they have similar birth rates through assimilation.
I agree with you only partially, because South Korea is probably the only country in the world which can due uno reverse move to fix their birth rate problem with one simple law and move. I live in Israel and our country is measured as one of the highest costs of living country in the world, we always make in top 10 of such list and i just checked data right now and compare it to South Korea and it says that the cost of living in Israel is 1.57 times higher than in South Korea.
However, we in Israel have 2.9 fertility rate which is in top 60 countries by fertility rate and not only we don't have an issue with dropping fertility rate or ageing population, it's actually quite opposite - our population only grows and fertility rate remains around 3.0 score.
And the answer is simple - compulsory military service for all women, when birth of a child is obviously giving a woman free pass from compulsory military service. We in Israel surrounded by enemies who wish us harm, so in order to survive as a nation we MUST keep compulsory military service. So does South Korea due to threat from a North Korea. The only difference is, that in our country we have everything equal - both men and women serve, but in South Korea for some odd reason only men serve, while women given free pass and basically natural advantage over the men in terms of university and career, because while men forced to serve in military, women manage to finish their education earlier and secure good position at company over the men, while men left with nothing. Current South Korea laws are a direct incentive for women to chose career over the children and family and nothing will change, until women in South Korea are also would be forced to serve in army. That is just my opinion, at least. I love South Korea products like Samsung and only wish Korea the best.
@@memeherp166 that is because of 2 things: religion and culture.
Lolll of course the men in their society want kids. Its so easy to "love" your kids and get married when your wife does all the work. I dont blame the women for not wanting kids if all the burden is put on them.
I don’t think you should put all men in that my dad works really hard for us to have a confortable life so no it’s not easy for him too even if my mom who’s retired takes cares of us
@@mintblr_1464 Whats his job? If he isnt doing manual labor for 14 hrs, its laziness. He can come home and split the housework.
@@angelsis2222 Having a job outside the house isn't work?
@@angelsis2222 if the mother isn't a stay at home then i agree, otherwise she should just care for the kids instead of pushing that onto the sole earner for the family
@@mintblr_1464 that's nice but he didnt have to put his body through hell to grow and birth them did he, women still routinely die from pregnancy and birth
Another reason: Many men are ultra conservative, meaning they will expect the women to quit their job, say goodbye to their career and commit to being a housewife. While on the other hand, many young korean women are not putting up with this mindset of conservativeness anymore. It is mainly the women who say: "No more, I don't need to be a child bearer and housewife to my husband. I am more than that in life". So the men and women in Korea have evolved differently in the past 20 years. Men are stuck in the past,while women are quite liberal. There comes the gender war. I spoke to many korean friends of mine about this. Plus, as a women in Korea myself, who would be willing to have some children, it is super hard to find a "decent" (respectful, forward thinking, helpful, supportive, open minded, not ultra conservative) man then, to even have children with.
I heard about this, and as they should. It's been so hard on women forever... And rn conservatives in the US are trying to bully women into being submissive like that, tradwife is literally a trend rn lol
@@strawberryynoodlesaucetradwife is created by women because they are tired of being alone.
Doesn't change the fact that more educated women with a career dont want children. They can have the most liberal and leftist man waiting on them and they still won't want a child.
Having a child is a negative to current modern human culture. Kids are terrible, kids come with sacrifice and headachs and humanity right now is in their selfish phase.
@@Needler13 No it's created by women who want male attention. Normal women can find normal men or stay single (single women are more happy when they did a study) It's the same kinda women who post their selfies and bodies online but different scenario. They like that all the men sit in the comments and say "wow this is a REAL woman, not like those feminists!" Come on lmao
have you even had a korean friend? i lived in seoul for about 15 years and men there are one of the most progressive people in the world in terms of gender issues.
“Since we don’t know what the future holds, I think I should become a person who can go anywhere, anytime”
Hell, yeah! Me too!
Real
Selfish mentatlity
@@jamesi9909Why?
@@jamesi9909 Nothing bad at this.
Being a kid there sounds awful, like you’re just some robot tasked with learning everything from dawn til dusk then joining a never-ending fight for work and status with a terrible work/life balance as soon you’re an adult. Why would anyone want to do that?
I don't work my ass off because I *want* to, I do it because I *have* to. When you don't have an option you will do what you need to do to prevent living a horrible disgraceful life.
Your answer just shows how priviliged you are, sure compared to a western or North European cultured country, it's difficult to see the upside. But compared to 90% of the world, even their position is relatively priviliged.
Cuz you are a worker nothing more!
Ironically, one of the key answers to the question used to be sex, itself, with babies being a consequence of that. But there's a growing sex recession all over the advanced world. A lot of people just aren't getting laid at all regularly anymore. This both removes one of the primary rewards for existing and also removes the possibility of children being born, a devastating double-whammy.
Yup breaking the cycle
if i could be a father, heck, i'd want five kids! but as a mother, being expected to give up everything i've worked for and become a 주부 housewife or worse, having to care for the kids as a default parent AND working 딩크, i could never imagine that. The gender divide in korea is insane and it's growing worse with men not wanting to admit that the current system is disadvantageous towards women at best and oppressive at worst. Women are the future, they control the birthrate when human rights are ensured. It'd do a lot of societies good to treat them better, and it's have good effects for everyone, regardless of gender.
@GoralischeSS No lol are u gay?
@GoralischeSS#1 in trash Olympic sure
@GoralischeSS r*pist being offended
If you were a man you also WOULDN'T want to have kids, imagine providing for a family of 6 if you can't even pay a proper house or apartment to yourself
@@KCultureVibeswoman also works dear man
The problem is the government and rising cost, they want kids but can't afford it
There's a big movement of Korean women who would not want kids even if things were affordable, they are standing against Korean culture where women are expected to be the only parent (they feel Korean men don't contribute at all to raising kids) and also abandon their identity and life to be a parent.
This thinking is the real problem. Government can't fix the birth rate. Want proof? Look at the policies last 10 years and all the incentives. Then look at European gov solutions or japan or every single developed country (zero developed countries have over 2.1 children per woman which is minimum sustaining birth rate) and you will see zero have a solution that works.
Plus when homes were even less affordable for the average south korean family (like my grandparents generation) koreans were having too many babies.
Real solution is culture change. If you keep throwing money at low birth rate, you get the same results, opposite effect than rising birth rate.
@@vaccinatedanti-vaxxer Ah I actually do have a solution, but people aren't going to like it.
Yep. If it is too complicated or too expensive to have children, people will not want to do it. Pretty simple really. Applies to any country.
They want to support elderly too but their process sometime turn into killing elderly in a slowly way. The problem is if a young couple just want to live a very basic life with a basic help from government system, it is still hard to go after. Fair, justice would somehow involve and make things harder for all sides.
After living in a few different countries I noticed that men and women act the same: men say they want kids one day and it's a really vague idea with no proper plan of action while women think practically on how to get there and how that will affect them financially and mentally and start preparing earlier. In my opinion this is why a lot of women are set on not having kids, because they thought through it properly for a while. Men just surf life saying they want to have kids (1, 2, 3, 4....) and hope that women will deal with the hard work and logistics.
This is such a biased view rofl
I hope you are very rich and pretty… because with your level of intellect, you will need plenty of both to survive.
@@alantes Fr
this is so true! you are speaking facts
All the facts.
I am a Taiwanese woman. Taiwan’s birth rate is competing with SK’s to be lowest in the world. I personally think it stems from a few issue.
1. Housing: when we are finally more stable in our career (28 or above), we often need to choose between putting down or deposit for a house or having a kid. Most people will choose a house since raising a kid without housing security is terrifying
2. Social structure: many East Asian country has this insane idea that woman needs to give up their job when they have kids. Many companies also use insane tactic to force pregnant women to quit. If today women got divorced by their husband after having the kid, they will have little financial prospect for the future since single mom’s employability goes down. Not to mention in this economy, one working parent is often not enough. The amount of financial burden that’s put on man from the society also creates isolation between man and their families. It is very unhealthy for either side.
3. Future prospect: if you talk to young people, you will often hear how pessimistic about our own future. As GenZ I grew up during a global recession and graduated college in a pandemic. Between AI and climate change’s affect catching the developed world, I do not know how to prepare for the next generation.
It's basically the untrust and fear in the future state of affairs is what you're saying
Re: 2 - Why not have your children before education and work?
@@edheldudeWho pays for the childcare? You do know that child can’t feed themselves and need food/diapers/essentials?
@@sep4957 ... and somehow people managed to do all this for all human history. Even living in conditions we'd consider extreme poverty now.
It's not about "I can't do it" and blame lack of resources while living like royalty, but "how do I do it?".
In my country the gov lavish people with free stuff and they still don't reproduce, so I think it's the matter of can-do attitude and feeling dependent on externalities. E.g. here instead of expecting the gov to do everything for you, you could save 30k€ with your spouse and you'd be easily set for all childhood. But people don't choose to do it because they expect tax money and services to be given to them.
@@edheldude I would imagine #1 -- the housing issue. It's the same here in the US. If you have kids prior to education and work, you are financially very precarious and often poor. That's really scary for raising kids. But if you go all the way through advanced degrees and promotions until you are safe and have bought a house, you're having kids quite late in life while you are also juggling elder care and high demands at work.
What the guy said , seeing our parents work to the bone to not enjoy much in life makes people not want to give life just to endure what we had already endured which was seeing our parents suffer and suffering with them .
Common sense to me.
Right like what’s the point. Parents suffered in the name of giving their kids a better life that didn’t come true. So why bother suffering for no reason too
@@dawert2667 Comments like theses indicate you have no personal relationships. What a sad world you live in.
@@georgecrumb8442 comments like these indicate you have no empathy. What a sad way you live in.
@@dawert2667 Except you will suffer in your old age when the birth rate has fallen so low your civilization has crumbled and there are no social or economic supports for the elderly. No children or grandchildren to care for you either. Such a society devolves into "get rid of the weak who represent economic burdens" very quickly. Life is suffering; we can't avoid it. We can only choose the most meaningful path presented to us, which usually means suffering for the sake of someone else rather than yourself.
This all stems from rising income inequality. My grandparents had 6 kids, and lived pretty well in the suburbs. All off his salary from drafting maps. My parents both worked blue collar jobs, and just got by raising 2 kids. Now, I can't really afford any children.
Forgot ㅋㅌminism and hook up culture.
@@vaccinatedanti-vaxxer Women are pickier and need no man. This is the primary issue.
yes you can afford children, just make them and feed them food which I'm sure you can, dont send them to school or college and make them take low level jobs, easy solution but all koreans want their kids to work at Samsung.
Housing is expensive
@@polaris1985Parents want to give the best to their children. I live in France and my parents are doing these "low level jobs". They don't want for us (my brothers and I) to do the same. These jobs are ungrateful, you're destroying your health, I don't even think that my father is going to reach the age of 80 years old. He is barely 55 years old but has already a lot of health issues.
I rather not have any children if it's for them to do these kind of jobs. Later on they will have a miserable pension, that's not a good life.
Wow, it was astounding to watch this interview and feel so represented by the words of women that live in the opposite side of the world (I'm from Italy). I felt like there were no barriers, no cultural differences that could prevent me in really understand what they were saying.
I love and support them all.
@GoralischeSS
Musso was a kid .
The moustache man was the absolute Chad. If he wouldn't have collided with ussr/Russians , he would have won easily.
That one wrong decision cost him a lot
Sadly Korean culture of hating women is still there
The woman at 18:30 is spot on! Why would someone have a child, knowing that child is going to have a miserable life?
@GoralischeSS you're so worried about the European future and European kids which is funny since your chances of even talking to a woman are below zero
You incels are the number one reason Europe will have less and less Europeans loll
spot on! this one of the main reasons i dont want kids
@GoralischeSSthose buzz words don’t work anymore. People have used them too much and they’ve lost all impact.
@GoralischeSS when people cannot think of any good solid counters.. they have no choice but to throw insults! ;)
@GoralischeSS yet, that doesn't mean that those far right people are going to have kids wholesale.
_Why have a child that's going to put you deeper into debt and poverty and then later on in life you have to tell you're child when they turn 18, you cannot afford to pay for their college and now you and your adult kid, are both living in poverty._
💥💯
The answer: because if nobody has kids, the entire country just ceases to exist. A kid in poverty might eventually get out of poverty. A kid who's never born will never be anything, at all -- guaranteed. It's the difference between the possibilities of being in the world versus the impossibility of progress when there literally is no future because children are never born.
@@StochasticUniverse How many do you have? Will have👶👶👶👶👶? No excuses.
@StochasticUniverse I put it to you that non-existence is better than existence.
@@Ytorisv My point exactly
Many women in South Korea choose not to have children due to societal expectations and gender roles. Single living is often considered a temporary phase, and women who have babies alone are not always judged kindly. Some women find it difficult to find a dateable man who will share household chores and childcare responsibilities equally.
Definitely.
So true!! Korean women are refusing to be treated as poorly as their mothers have been. The men in this video aren’t so bad, but I’ve seen/heard worse where men are just expecting women to be their maids with no respect to them as equal partners.
Korea has one of the highest women's rights in the world. Higher the women's rights, lower the birth rates. That's why 80% of Korean citizenship renouncements are men, because there's no benefit for them to be in Korea.
Korea has one of the highest women's rights in the world. Higher the women's rights, lower the birth rates. Husbands want the wife to work but the wives are just lazy and complain about how they're getting discriminated against when it's just that they're incompetent and don't put in the effort. No wonder 80% of Korean citizenship renouncements are men. Korean men are now flying out of the country in droves to live in foreign countries and/or find foreign wives.
stop spreading racist lies please. stop using our voice for your ideology ua-cam.com/video/bCzw-ckKbGU/v-deo.html
With all things considered with how Korean society is as an whole you cannot even blame people if they say they do not wish to have children. Most adults & people are unhappy & others simply can’t even afford to
Yes, their pov is understandable. And one side alone trying to solve the problem cannot change the problem. Cooperation, teamwork is needed
exactly, why would you bring more people into a world that makes everyone crazy when you yourself can't find any way to stay sane.
For sure. Playing crossfire a bit here, how do you know having any wouldn’t drive someone to be more competitive and be a catalyst for happiness? Or how do we know it’s the lack thereof?
It’s relative. I have seen many happy home house tours. It’s a program meant to give couples just married low rentals for a time to save to get a more permanent house and encourage babies. They are often 2 bedroom. Most often the other bedroom becomes a closet complete with clothing styler or an office. Afford to. It’s relative. When most the country didn’t have enough rice or shoes that fit people had 6 kids.
Thank you! Some people are acting like the lowest birth rate is a bad thing like, nobody can control a woman's body for starters, it their choice to not have kids, not all women are into that lifestyle and generally speaking, not all women are born attracted to men (because some are born lesbians or bisexual who leans towards women more) or not all of them want anything to do with men at all. But to the straight and even bi women who actually do want kids, they'd rather be financially stable first to give their kids a better life because they don't want to birth their kids into poverty at all as that kind of lifestyle can bring some damages and unhealthy balance to them and it really valid.
The common perception of giving birth and raising children is often seen as a significant burden in Korea.
As it should be.
What the USA has going for it is that a lot of people DO NOT think and randomly have children with no healthcare system, a limited and sometimes non existant social system, and changing laws that can have your state working under an 1800s law regarding rights.
Their society is too competitive. I agree with the last girl, they think too much and everything should be perfect
Also other parts in the world, I noticed. That is the truth though. Its been romantised for too long. Its dangerous because it leads to unwanted and abused children.
@@aan2931 As a Korean in my early 30s, I completely agree with you. People always want to be perfect in every way, and there's a compulsive belief that marriage must fulfill all these conditions.
Because it is
So, the gender pay gap is extreme in Korea and women get treated like garbage ones they are married and have kids. Men treat them like crap as well and once they have kids, they can’t have a life of their own anymore. Costs of living are increasing exponentially. But why oh why don’t Korean women want to have kids? It remains a mystery.
Birth rate wasn't an issue before when women didn't work and were housewives. Then a ton of feminist BS gets pushed in a country, the less women have kids - we've seen it all over in first world countries. Turns out feminism is telling women they should work and are valued for being workers than wives or mothers. then women stop having kids s a result
@@harrywang4769Deepfake porn, nth room, discrimination statistics, beauty standards, bullying issues, suicide rates. Not "feminism". Its called "defence".
The only way to solve COL crisis is to move large companies out of Seoul. You cannot have 90% of the country living in one city and expect housing prices to drop.
I agree. Have to have other big city other than seoul
@@bebetterandloveyourself6483
Man, just the city of Busan has THREE million people.
South Korea is full of big cities.
What they need is more space. Damn DMZ
The infrastructure is built up in Seoul. There's no moving even a quarter of the population of seoul to other cities. Don't you think the same problems will exist if you move 15 million people to surrounding cities? Korea needs to increase corporate taxes, tax companies sending jobs overseas and increase the minimum wage but too many corrupt decision makers have the politicians in their hand.
@@Wurfenkopf I see that there's other big city.. thanks for the info
it's just that from my personal opinion (don't know if it's the truth), Seoul is where good education and job etc is. And become THE dream place to live and where you can achieve your dreams and think maybe the opportunity to have a good life is.
Well, that's just my personal opinion on people's perception of Seoul.
This is it, by moving jobs out of Seoul not only will the housing prices drop but the competition will decrease because of abundance of smaller companies that won’t ask for a degree from Seoul universities. It’s crazy that Korea already has such a small land mass but is limiting themselves even more.
These folks had some wonderful, thoughful, and educated responses. I feel like I've learned more from them than from any news article about the birth rate issue.
It is easy for a man to decide that he will have children when another person will give birth to those children and take care of those children.
Motherhood is best gift to any women.....
No it really isn't for all men, stop with the toxic mindset. So many people have such absurd confirmation bias.
As if the man isn't working to provide for his family during that time ...
@@Ray-om3cp A lot aren't and turn out to be yet another person she has to take care of. Usually both work and she takes care of the children's needs and his. It's not worth it.
Exactly
13:46 I feel bad for her. She really wants to have kids but can't because of other factors. The fact that she watches programs about raising kids and programs that have kids, knowing that she'll probably never get to experience that is just heartbreaking.
I really hope she gets to have a kid soon. She looks like she'd be an amazing mother
It's a trend in all developed countries. Korea is just the most extreme case but many many countries are well below the 2.1 fertility rate needed to just maintain current population.
It's probably this bad in Korea because they don't have children outside of marriage. Or rather, if they do, it's considered shameful and there's a huge stigma on single parents.
@@voldy18ig Korea is going extinct
@@voldy18 throughout history people only had children within marriage. So this comment makes absolutely no sense
Many countries could stand to lower their population, it sounds like a step in the right direction if you ask me, the way things have been trending the last thing we need is billions more people scrounging for the few crumbs left to offer. It's clear countries can't be sustained on the trajectory it was heading, the only major issue I see is that eventually there will be a very aged population with very few people to care for them, outside of that, less people would do many countries a lot of good.
@@voldy18Furthermore, especially long work hours, extreme education pressure and almost no immigration
Woman are not just „to make a Baby” Machine 🤥we are also human beings who want to enjoy our life, with or without a child.
Nowadays Women are machines to make money for rich people, men as well 😅
Your career is meaningless next to having children. Its that simple.
Cool keep voting for higher inflationary policies please
Cool, live your best life. Don't forget that women have an expiration date, don't regret it later when you are unable to make kids anymore. I hope you won't regret your choices and live happily.
@@TonguelessDannyyou're coping😂 bitter lonely man
Men don't do their share of parenting and household work and wonder why women turn away?
women dont have to serve in the military, equality only when it suits you right?
you're right. Soon, women will also have to serve in the military due to the low birth rate.
I hope Korea becomes a country with a high birth rate like "Israel".
😊
ah, you mean the state that is currently committing g3n0cide right?@@IwantItalyPizza
Men will do their share of prenting if women get married instead of hooking up and end up as single mothers.
My mother is a SAHM and growing up my father was never really around me. My mother did all the cleaning, cooking, doing laundry, ironing uniforms, attending school events, packing lunches, taking us out and what not. My dad did what? He worked in 2 shifts that changes every 15 days. Went to work, come back and binge watch tv or talk with friends. No really help around the house, my mother encouraged us to study hard. My dad was only present when finals results were announced to get all the credit.
According to him, if me (18f) and my brother (15m) excelled it's because of him and if we did any mistake it's my mother's fault. I saw my mother taking care of my father whenever he fell ill or wanted to eat something yummy, my mom would spend hours in kitchen soaked in sweat due to heat.
My mother gave us an environment to put out our opinions, speak our minds but whenever we have a conversation with our dad it's VERY intense, frustrating since all the time he's lecturing us and call it a family discussion where our dad is basically yelling and US listening to him.
Excellent answers from every interviewee. The guy with the ponytail seemed to be especially thoughtful. As for me and my wife in Korea, she was eager to have kids when we first started dating. But these days as a married couple we have both agreed it's better to just enjoy each other's company without a child - stress free and able to save for our retirement rather than spending hundreds of millions of won raising a kid into a society with so little joy to offer them.
@GoralischeSS cope
@GoralischeSS copity cope cope
Smart, unselfish thinking, doug.
Change the work culture- Not more than 40H week and give people their private lives back. Avoid getting drunk in the evenings, not stigmatize children outside marriage, are some solutions that might work
40 hours is still an absurd amount at our stage of development. Consider how much more powerful our computers, systems, logistics, and information availability are compared to the 1980s. We should be able to do more with less. Most workplaces use extremely inefficient processes.
@@emultra759 A genius expert in economics in 1910 worked out in euroupe you would be able to provide all you need from work and have money left over in the 1950s it happened and everyone still works 40 hour weeks now. Still better than the 60 hour weeks my dad did in the 1960s. Ai will not stop you from working unless it make you unemployed.
You know the crazy part is that legally is 8hours a day and not more than 56hours (or so) with overwork. It's just not followed because of the hierarchy issue of listening to your boss, working really hard because it's so competitive to get a job that if you land one you do everything to keep it. My friend is doing a 10am-10pm and weekends 5hours a day but his contract says 10am-6pm. You're just expected to do this.
Maybe if this changes the drinking culture will too because out of all my guy friends they only drink either because of after work meetings or to release stress
@@emultra759 Well, if your boss and their boss and bosses and shareholders want the line going up that's the reason you're squeezed for work.
Not only South Korea facing this problem also my country that I come from - Poland. People can't afford to own house the cost of living is too high. If you want a family both of parents has to work unless your spouse makes more than the average person make. As a single person I make the minimum wage where 70% of it goes to pay my rent. It's crazy!!!!
In Poland birth rate per woman is currently 1,475 (so it's still much better than in Korea, although definitely not enough). I'm also from Poland, and I think it doesn't look like in the comment above, maybe in some cases, but not in all. A lot of people have quite good jobs. But they still don't want to have many children, very few have more than two, from different reasons. And of course, in our country most of people, so both men and women, do work. Because one have to work up till certain age to be able to receive own retirement pension later (it's a system of public retirement insurances). As a woman I would also be afraid not to work, to quit a job and be totally dependent only on a man, I think it would be irresponsible (because various things may happen in life, like a partner's death, illness, unemployment, divorce etc., then a woman will stay with nothing, no job, no proffessional experiences, no retirement pension etc.). But in the whole EU, unlike in some other countries, we have quite good system of maternity and parental leaves, leaves in case of a child is sick and others. So there are regulations aimed at safeguarding somehow the work-life balance, also to enable a woman's come back to work after having a child. So the topic of people not wanting to have many children, and it goes for both, so men and women actually, is much more complicated. Solutions are also not easy.
I'm from Indonesia, most gen Z don't want a child but people from poverty or wealthy contributes children to society😂 I think my parent will force me to marry because they're Islamists to boot, traditional, keeping up with the neighborhood and relative. I wanna move to your country😢
@@O.Oxximsly I would prefer to stay single to the rest of my life that to be forced to marry, not to be able to have a normal relationship before my own decision to marry someone or to do this when I'm not ready and don't want to yet. It must be not easy. If You are young, maybe there's a way You could somehow come to Europe, maybe to our country or some other, for instance to study here. Quite a lot of foreigners come here also to work, in various companies.
But a South Korean living in our country, in Poland - who has also a UA-cam channel, and who got married in Poland and lives here since many years (also his Korean parents are living with him in Poland) - he has three children. So above average.
Just to add: In Poland current (2024) fertility rate per woman is 1,475. Such data I found. So it's definitely not enough to have replacement of generations, but it's still much better than in South Korea.
Young woman that wanted kids but summaried how difficult it is, is very wise
I mean in my pov as a female in this 21st century , my parents invest a lot in my education to help me get myself better opportunities in my future career , and the country i come from doesnt completely support the idea of woman working ( ecsp if the woman is to get married its always expected of her to give up her dreams and career for the sake of someone she just met ) ,no w tell me why i must go through 12 years of school ,4 years of undergraduate ( and if we add post graduate degree ) 2 more years of education , and waste 18 years of my parents salary if i have to give it up for the sake of someone ?? Who would want that ? I wouldnt i would want a good career for myself and would want to support my family with my money too
Who will support your, when your will be old?
@@rohj4825Even if you have children, you can never be sure what will happen in life. Someone may lose contact with his children, from different reasons, children may move to the other end of the world etc. Various things happen in life. After all parents don't own their children. And someone may also save money for his/her retirement. So it's not a problem of individual person having children or not. What's important is general demographic structure of the whole society - so having more those who are proffessionally active, pay taxes and so on, than those who are not. But I can understand also the point of view of the person who wrote the comment above.
@@rohj4825 ,but i didn't say anything against having kids in my comment , I just don't want ppl to blame ppl who choose to not have kids plus having kids just to take care of you when u get old is a SELFISH REASon to have kids
@@rohj4825this is a stupid question. Even people who have kids its not a guarantee that they will take care of you. You should see the amount of old people that kids have not seen in years that die alone. Kids should also not be expected to do that.
Also funny you take it right to that place when she didn’t even say anything against having kids
@@rohj4825 thats a very selfish reason to have children. if u simply cannot provide your children with the care, time, money, support, or if u simply do not want children, then you shouldn't be expected to have kids. having kids solely for having someone who will look after you when you are old is just inconsiderate
I live in Seoul and these days people even refer to women who have kids as patriot, as it contributes to the capacity of the nation in economic and societal terms.
No, they obviously don't. SKoreans actively cheer for their own destruction.
But do they supply these “patriots” with education subsidies so their kids can thrive in the heavily competitive academic environment? Free, quality daycare--preferably on-site, so mothers don’t have to worry where their children are or feel compelled to give up their jobs and incomes entirely? And, from what I hear, the ability to afford Seoul housing AND raise a child implies a pretty solid financial cushion in the first place. We are the same in New York. Our politicians talk a great game but the delivery leaves much to be desired.
Suplay of new slave worker
@@zaker721 yes education is free now through high school. OMG. It’s not 1970, when they called people patriots for sterilizing themselves and taking the risk to have one child instead of how many they would have had otherwise. I think there was a dictatorship going on at the time, off and on…
@@zaker721정부가 도우려곤 하는데 충분하진 않은 것 같아요. 부모가 희생해야 하는 것들이 많으니 ”애국자“란 표현이 마냥 농담이 될 수는 없는 실정이네요..
in the past, women were forced to get married and have kids. i have yet to meet and old lady who had no education, no choice but to be married and not resent her past. old ladies are bitter . now having an education, being able to read an academic paper, being able to think for yourslef and make educated choices and then have kids is a great blessing. but tat was not the case in the past.
That's true. But the best thing is to be able to combine both, so having family and a proffession, a job.
Even with education, career , they're still bitter, l0l
@@Cxs1a3 Yeah, all women are just horrible, indeed. And men are so better. LMAO. Not that everyone are firstly human beings, that should treat the others like they would like to be treated themselves. With such attitude towards women, no wonder there's low birth rate, really.
@@Cxs1a3Of what?
@@A_UA-cam_lurker Exactly, doesn't make sense, ask them
As korean, I have wondered whether I should have a baby in a world where people are divided by hierarchy based on their appearance, jobs, income, university, etc., and those who don't meet social standards are labeled as losers lol ..
Hearing the latest news about young korean men im completely not surprised why korean women decide to not have kids...
What was the news? Let me guess, men bad, women perfect?
@@edheldudemen bad women normal
@@edheldude yes
hearing the latest news about western women, i'm not surprised everyone makes fun of them lol
calm down feminist this isn't your platform
One interesting nuance is that almost nobody wants, or thinks it's practically feasible, to have more than 2 kids. You see this a lot in other countries too. Realistically, to maintain a birth rate above 2.1 requires quite a lot of people to have 3-4, because there's always going to be some people who, for various reasons, have no kids at all.
This is a kinda obvious fact about averages on the face of it, but I think in a lot of countries having large families increasingly seems not just difficult to manage, but intrinsically undesirable/irresponsible.
The more educated and conservative you are the less likely you are to have more than 2-3 children. The countries where you see those numbers are usually poorer less educated countries or countries that rely on immigrants from those countries such as America. Which is why the Korean government is trying to open the country up and make it friendlier to more immigrants. But that's also tough because of the homogeneity and the cultural cohesiveness and resistance of a country like Korea.
@@GetUnwokeIt's not like that. Most of the modern, developed countries, including those the richest as well, have problems with low birth rate. So it's not at all like this. And about immigration, it poses many, also very complicated problems, which we can see for instance in Western European, also in some Scandinavian, countries. So the authorities must think over really carefully about sound, wise, appropriate immigration policy, not resulting in severe risks and problems.
Wear and tear on body, mind and finances should be a concern. Children are taxing on the mental and for most folks can be an unexpected lifelong respinsibility.
@@MayaTheDecemberGirl These things aren't exclusive. What we actually have is a partnership crisis, more people are staying alone for longer. In my country, I see this a lot: once the couples have achieved a stable relationship/marriage, a lot of them have two to three children. But I see a lot of fairly stable, accomplished people, myself among them, not getting there. They either fail to attract partners, or their relationships repeatedly fall apart until they age out of childbearing age. For me not having children was not ever a conscious decision. It just happened.
@@Volkbrecht That's true, it may indeed be also like this, in not so rare cases. And also without people's aware decision and their will about it, it just happens. And it's not easy, for sure. But also we can see nowadays that in the younger generations, being now in their twenties, there are more people saying they don't want to have in future any children at all. And also in fact there are really few families who have more than two children. Many people, since longer, have only one child or at most two (in case of majority of eople I know it's actually like this). By the way, I also don't have any brothers or sisters. However, immigration policy, especially such as is being forced currently in the EU (so accepting big waves of illegal immigrants, coming from all over the world, very often from cultures hostile towards European values, culture and even legal order) is not any solution, but it only brings more serious problems and threats, especially now when there are also so many serious risks coming from hostile undemocratic regimes.
I was born in 1990, the year of white horse. In Korea, there is a popular belief that girls born in the year of the white horse will be difficult to handle, which has led to many girls being aborted. There were always more boys than girls in the class, so the boys had to sit together. Some of my friends remember their grandmother saying things like, "The doctor thought you were a boy. You're lucky."
So. Would a woman who grew up in this society want to do something for Korea?
+In 1990, the male-to-female birth sex ratio was 115 boys for every 100 girls. For the third child, this sex ratio rises to 138.
If i had a kid, i will never financially recover
Are you male, female, or nonbinary
@@sharinaross1865 I do not wish to dox my gender
@@sharinaross1865their broke
@@sharinaross1865why this question?
I'm not Korean, but as a Chinese, I feel the same sentiment-- having my own issues to deal with, having my doubts in raising them, and realistically more difficult if that were a viable option with how many of us are financially struggling!
my own personal problem though, is as an Asian American with an immigrant parent, I'm still having to find myself uncomfortable, but necessary in having to speak up for myself in telling my mother constantly that I really don't want to have children in the future. I'm not discouraging others; it's just not for me.
@@arisunohanathere is no need to increase population we are already overpopulated 😅
I respect ur decision ❤
@@theKingauravno, overpopulation is fake news
@@arisunohanaso you arent chinese? Why americans think that Just because their parents are from somewhere they are that?? You are american
@@theKingaurav We aren't even close to being overpopulated, and we're 55 years past passing below replacement rate. We're heading for a collapse. Only cities are jam-packed with people - like in South Korea. Half of the population lives in Seoul metropolitan area.
It’s happening around the world not just in South Korea, it’s more evident there because they are geographically a smaller country. Someone mentioned in the comments that only third world countries have high population, but the fact is that even in these third world countries young people are choosing not to have children. Gender wars are higher than ever, society is divided, capitalism and materialism has taken over. Job is stressful, people are overwhelmed and overworking, food rates are high, medical bills are high, rents are high, one can’t survive without two income household, educating a child is expensive, property prices are high. These are all the reasons many young people are opting out of marriage and having children. And very soon in the future, raising a child would be seen as a luxury.
전세계가 보이지 않은 전쟁을 하고 있구나~
Even without the economic aspect, the world is currently very unstable with wars going on and the climate changes being more or less ignored. Even in countries that have a lot of equality buffers and financial aid for parents, a lot of people consider not having children because they are unsure if this is a world they want to bring children into.
@@snowdrop118 That's true, a lot of wars everywhere and threat of war breaking out is looming over a lot of countries, future is insecure. It's better not to bring innocent lives in this world with a lot of uncertainty around all of us. Climate change is real as well and it's sad that majority of people don't take it seriously. There are forest fires every now and then, water is being polluted with chemicals, glaciers are melting, deserts are being flooded with rainfall. We have f*cked up earth for the next generation.
@@야호-s4h
Yes, is a war against our own humanity and old traditions. This is the win of the market over humanity
Look at Muslim countries most have fertility above 3
10:18 I’ve never heard someone irl speak in that Korean ancient drama male tone lol
He was my favourite 😅🤍 his fashion style was amazing too
I'm European, I'll be 30 next week and I don't want kids. From what I've noticed, this problem is global and isn't confined to Korea. None of my friends are planning on having children either. Most have decided so because of the money issues. Raising a child is expensive, but some also just don't want to be reduced to just being a mother or a father. We've all worked hard for our careers and dreams and it's really hard letting that go just to have children. I honestly don't see a single positive thing in having children myself. I would only ever consider it if my partner really wanted them.
Positive thinks are: to receive a kiss from a children when you arrive at home, to know somebody sincerely love you, to know you are the hero of you kids, to sacrifice for somebody who love you. When you have kids all those individual "dreams" that you have before are nothing compared to the love that you feel.
It's to preserve your culture, too. Your countries are already being taken over by immigration cultures. Very soon, they will outnumber you, and your native population will no longer exist. See how even if the immigrants are poor they manage to have kids? You let the Trojan horse in and you are fuelling your own demise.
Just have kids. It will be the best decision you ever made. They provide constant entertainment, laugs, memories and a sense of fulfillment and purpose.
@@luissalazar6960You’re selfish. You’re only thinking about yourself. You do realize the child’s future it’s important too? Life is not that simple.
@@davinky1229 ... life before was hardest than today.... and families have kids. Today the life is less difficult than before. A lot of food, security, communication, options to learn... so.
In the 1970s, the Korean government advertised that only animals have multiple children, and that Koreans were now civilized, so they should have only one or two. People really internalized that. Young people don’t even know what happened to their society…. Now people are supposed to change.
whoa
Lol 🤣🤣
Consequences of short term planning
Brazil also did that. There's no blamming for have one kid, but 2 or 3 nowadays brings some blame. The cost of living, and career thing is all bulshit, just a trap, after the 35, or 40 most of people just become tired to work, and this is normal even if is your dream job. Most of that complain about that have a pretty confortable life, I don't meant their are rich people, but far for poor. So, Korea and western countries are rich, but think about a poor country like Brazil facing birthrate fall. We literally don't have the infrastructure and economy to maintain a elder society.
@@wildswan221 nah its more abt ppl cant find the reason or any benefit to having children because most ppl in their 30s or below only have memory of going to academy and studying their ass off while not having any quality time with their family. Ppl who grew up with lots of good memories with their parents and family naturally want to have children because they want to give them the same experience.
they did that all around the world, club of Rome
7:34 that lady is speaking the truth. No one can afford to buy a house anymore, why would you have a child if you can't even secure a proper roof over your head? I know I never would. House first, children second.
Maybe the government should do something about this than just fearmonger us about the declining birth rate.
서로가 서로를 심판하는 사회인지라 서로가 감시당하는 사회. 질서와 규칙이 사회를 지배하는 선많은 사회. 상상을 초월한 위계질서적인 문화. 가족의 가치를 경시하는 사회. 가정에서 조차 위계서열 잡는 사회. 걍 자유 평등이 없고 위계질서적인 사회. 한살 차이만 나도 위계구조. 유쾌함은 눈씻고 찾아볼수 없는 나라.
ㅠㅠ
ㄹㅇ 팩트임. 걍 해외로 이민가는게 답
this read like tragic poetry, thank you for sharing. Hoping for more from your leaders.
한국은 중국이나 일본보다 훨씬 미개한 사회인데, 자존심 때문인지 막상 중국이나 일본 사람들에게 욕먹으면 크게 반발한다는게 코미디죠.
특히 세계적으로 유래를 볼 수 없는 남성혐오, 여성혐오, 성별갈등 현상은 젊은 세대일수록 꼰대들보다 의식수준이 더 저열하면 저열했지 진보해가지 않고 있다는 것을 보여주죠.
Koreans think how to raise kids properly before giving birth. They are responsible enough to understand that if they can provide good life to their kids only then they will bring them on earth. I wish Indians think in this way. Irrespective of social status or income, being poor or middle class or rich, once a boy or girl grows to a marriageable age, they are getting married, some of them may not have stable income too. After marriage societal pressure is there to give birth. Irrespective of jow much India develops in science & technology, there is no change in this thought.
Indians are thinking this way too atleast most educated ones
I'm Indian and childfree, but that's definitely not normal for sure. Family members are baffled and choosing to ignore my stance (for now lol) and although my friends are supportive, just last month one of them thought it was a compliment to tell me I'd make a really good parent. Sigh. I do wish I knew more childfree people here, though.
When you look at real families though you realize that it's an idiotic, avoidant attitude. Of course it's not easy raising kids, but most people that have them manage somehow. Getting a kid from birth through university takes more than 20 years. Can you really plan that far ahead into the future? Do you have any idea how your career will develop, if the company you work for or even the industry you specialised in will still be around? In reality, once you see you make enough to feed your kids for the foreseeable future, that's when you could go for it. Because realistically that is as secure as you can ever plan to be.
@@Volkbrecht I see where you're coming from. Your statement does hinge on what a "real" family is though. I'm certain we have different definitions. Also, if choosing not to do something simply because you don't want to do it is an "idiotic, avoidant attitude", then every human in the world is idiotic and avoidant, aren't they? At least, whatever you choose to do has the benefit of you wanting to do it, so it's worth it in that sense. Much better attitude than jumping headlong off a cliff just because most people are doing it (since the thought of having a child carries a similar feeling of disorientation and terror in this childfree person lol), yes? But hey, you do you!
Not just kids, Male kid
I also think social media has show young Koreans that life doesn't have to be one way or you're doomed. Even though I'm past my reproductive years, I have found in the last 20 years that I have learned so much through coming across different contents here on UA-cam. My mind has been expanded and I see a much broader world then ever before.
Well, their country is doomed.
Korea needs to end the normalcy for kids to go to after school academies. It's unnecessary money spent and waste of time for children, let kids be kids. school is not life.
But people need to find a job later, to be able to earn for their living, especially if they don't live in the capital and don't finish an university. That's the problem.
They also need to realize that the more people study the same thing, the less valuable the degree. In most professions, grades don't mean much when you forget the material, which is inevitable when it lacks relevance. The only time when school is necessary is when you're going into a licensed profession or maybe trade school. Anything else is a waste of time and money. E-learning is the best alternative
@@michaelrespicio5683 you're obviously an American
@@michaelrespicio5683 You're obviously an American. "School is useless" and then you guys can't even tell the difference between their, they're and there; or don't know where Spain is on a map
@@milena39 Lmao touched a nerve, yeah? First of all, good guess but not American, pal. Second, not every American is as clueless as you might believe. And third...your lack of reading comprehension. You're quoting something I never said, nor did I use one of those 3 homonyms, or do you need a dictionary to look up what that means? Not my fault if you wasted so much time and money on a useless degree, can't find opportunities with it, and paying off loans with a job you hate while the rest of us get ahead. Have fun being among the first to get replaced by AI!
Not korean but what the lady said at the last minute is something to be considered.
I agree with her. I mean like a problem like stunting then for that problem to decrease is to find the root cause and find a solution to the root cause. And it's a long fight. Also need many departments involved not just health or nutrition.
"... 2 or 3... depends how many i can manage.." ..what a realistic sweet guy. I wish him good health and a happy life. I wish that for ALL people.
Him and the "3 or 4" girl should get together
@@demri123YES omg their vibes suit each other
@@demri123😂😂😂 they should!
He's cute, too...
It's not his choice though. Now he is single and has wishes like any other person but when he gets married the choice should be his wife's. After all we bare all the hardships of a pregnancy not them!
Just from this interview alone, it is clear that the cost of living is getting too high. Many young people feel like they can barely afford to support themselves let alone raising a kid. One of these issues is the high housing costs. So if the government truly wants to make a difference, they need to address these concerns. I think if the government would help subsidize a large amount of the housing cost for any young couples with kids, it would go a long way in addressing this issue. Spending any money in the media just telling people this is a serious issue and telling them to have more kids would be a real waste of money without addressing many of the basic financial concerns by the government.
The cost of living is only part of a larger problem undiscussed in the video 🤦♀️
인터뷰에서 보여줬듯이 여성들은 커리어를 포기해야 한다. 육아를 위해 일을 쉬면 퇴직을 강요당하고, 그 다음에는 저임금 노동을 할 수밖에 없다.
즉, 아이를 키우면 실제로 아이를 키울 돈이 충분하지 않습니다. 좋은 회사에 근무하고 휴직을 해도, 다음 문제는 아이의 유치원.
정부는 저출산에 맞춰 공립유치원 수를 줄였다. 문제는 공립유치원의 부족이 아이러니하게도 공립유치원에 갈 수 있는 좋은 위치에 있는 가정의 임대료를 올린다는 점이다. 즉, 자녀를 유치원에 보내려면 비싼 사립 유치원에 보내거나 비싼 임대료를 지불해야 합니다.
초등학교와 중학교의 체인에서도 같은 문제가 발생합니다. 육아 비용의 죽음의 소용돌이 같은 거죠..
그 밖에도 사회 구조적 문제가 많지만 댓글로 적기는 어렵다
그건 한국의 경직된 노동시장 때문이죠. 사람 함부로 못 자르는게 한국 회사들의 현실인데.
What scares me is that one parent is not enough to support a kid. With half of the marriages ending in divorce I can't bring myself to plan a child knowing that as a mother I'll have to carry a weight of raising them. Aliments can do only so much when you have to pay for rent and childcare and food. I'm sorry but having a child today is luxury I can't afford.
I've lived in Korea for 11 years and the first thing I always hear about having kids is the cost. (That it is super expensive) The funny thing, is it is NOT. (I've saved so much over 11 years and I own an apt now) Parents choose to make it expensive because Korea has such a competitive nature. Parents think they HAVE to send their kids to private academies everyday to improve their chances at success in life which can cost hundreds or thousands a week, and you hear about this in the news "having a child costs this much a week!". And these academies aren't just boring subjects, these include sports, robotics, coding, dance, etc. And in the Korean kids' culture, they often feel like a loser if they don't go to all the academies and their friends do (even if they don't like the subject). At school you hear kids say, "I learned A yesterday" and another kids rebuts, "well I learned B, A is easy". So, even the kids can pressure parents into going to the "hagwons". The second thing is kind of strange. Koreans feel like you need to have completed a checklist before you can even THINK ABOUT getting married and having children. example: I have a job and make A amount of money [X], I have a car [X], I have an apartment owned [X], My partner meets A B C requirements [X], My parents approve of everything in my life [X], and now I can finally have a kid. For most, it's not even an option until these are met. Were as in the west, people just make babies and go with the flow and make it work financially. Koreans are perfectionists and planners so you really need to be in a good position to even consider it. Third, I think the over-time work culture + academy culture combined to have a strange effect where for the past 30ish years families have become less "loving". Compared to the west, family members see each other WAY less. Perhaps only weekend dinners. So these kids grow up not seeing the joy a family brings, and they raise their kids the same way, so less kids dream about starting a family and dream about making money more. And lastly, I think the "I want to stay cool" point is also true. So a lot of their money is budgeted to have a cooler life style, but they could easily afford to have a kid, that goes to 1 private academy a week. I really think this generation of parents need to spend more time with their kids, and when these kids grow up they'll want to have kids too. The best fix I believe is to have ALL academies close by 7pm (will never happen because they will make less money), because a lot of kids stay out until 11pm and eat dinner with friends and when they finally get home they do their school and academy homework. Plus, companies need to have no overtime policies, so parents and kids actually get to spend time together. You can make the cost of living crazy cheap, and parents will use that extra budget to send the kids to more academies haha. You gotta show this generation of kids what the joy of having a family is, or else they are just going to repeat what their parents and grandparents have done.
Agreed. But in high birth African countries, guys are notorious for not spending much time with their kids and being abusive
@@joezw99A lot of the kids don’t survive to adulthood due to the poor conditions there too.
I couldn’t agree more. I’m a fan of the kdrama and I am aware about everything that you’ve mentioned above. I’ve learned a lot; the good and the bad things. South Korea remains one of the world’s most homogeneous nations not only applies to their ethnicity but also their mindset. Being competitive is good for you to be able to improve yourself as long as it’s not causing you emotional distress. This is what happens to them. The government has an important roles to make it happen. They should start developing rural areas and to be able to create more jobs opportunities so that people can move out from Seoul. That is the only way to achieve the ideal population density to be ecologically stable. So the rest of the cost of living problems gradually will be solved. Sadly it’s not going to happen anywhere soon.
To be fair though, even if you don't have to send your child to good schools for their survival having a competetive edge is huge in Korean society. Low education results in low income jobs and people in poverty in Korea struggle a lot. Why would you want to bring your child into a society if you feel like you can't give them a fighting chance to make a life for themselves? That's so selfish and short-sighted.
I always say the problem is mainly cultural, but the setting (overwork, competitiveness, studies) makes everything even more difficult
I saw a korean TV show ep about the only pediatric surgeon in Korea. The man was ready to get retired but he couldn't leave without having a substitute, he was very worried waiting for his students to finally get their degrees... there were many kids needing surgery but there was only him there to work
because most Korean medical students want to either go to the US or do cosmetic surgery, recent grad doctors who do primary care went on strike.
This is great work. Excellent reporting from the street. UA-cam at its best, showing what people around the world think about their lives. Thank you!
It is true that many things that were given up for rapid growth quickly developed Korea, which had nothing left after the war. However, the side effects began to appear in the 1990s, and the problem is getting worse due to the old generations who couldn't let go of their pride in the era of growth.
Not really it's the samething happening everywhere right now and it actually kind of started back in the 80s for alot of these countries people prioritizing career over family, the U.S included. Korea and Japan are suffering faster because they're smaller (like the size of one U.S state). The problem with Korea and Japan is that most of the population has all moved to the big city, which in turn made everything there super expensive so all these people complaining about it's to expensive to raise a child, it's mostly because of where they chose to live and also listen to what they spend money on sending your kid to 12 different private schools and English lessons, my cousins all learned English, they literally only use it when I'm around never at their actual jobs so seems like a waste of money. The Korean side of my family is from the Gangwon Province stuff is alot cheaper there especially seafood, it's not super rural but definately not big city and most of those people are still having kids living life just fine, but they're the minority and alot of them are labeled as poor farmers/fishermen. It's funny to me people in these comments just complain about being controlled by a man not wanting to have a family but will at the sametime literally slave away at a job that cares nothing about them(usually also run by.....a man). People choosing career over family is wild to me when you can see the outcome of the people who started this, they're literally giving out companion dolls to elderly lonely Korean women to try to deal with their depression and suicide rate from being alone. The other major thing most people don't think thru is they're not even gonna be able to afford to be old and alone, the Korean pension is set to run dry in 30 years because of the declining birthrates that means alot less workers to contribute to the program so alot of these people in their 20s and 30s aren't gonna have any pension come retirement time, in the U.S it's even less Social Security is set to run out in 15 years. It didn't help that alot of these countries were essentially very isolated to outsiders, so not alot of interracial marriages to help with the birth rates over the years, I saw a interview K Explorer did awhile back where he talked to alot of the elderly koreans and asked how they would feel now if a foreigner wanted to marry their child and the majority were actually open to it as long as there was love because they fear that at this rate Korea will end up back in poverty where as before it would be a strong no lol.
How dare Korea pressure young people to have children when their own rhetoric is so anti feminism. So much self sacrifice goes into being a mother but imagine just how much harder it is when public spaces restrict children, publicly your condemned for everything you do (a mother taking her children to a restaurant is looked down upon for not cooking meals at home), domestic violence runs rampant, women are often discriminated against for WANTING motherhood (lower salaries and no promotions for married women because they believe children are imminent and they’ll lose their employee) like its crazy. On the other side of the aisle, for the men I can only imagine the crazy pressure to provide. Getting your own apartment is as expensive as buying a home in the west. The dating culture alone is so isolating already. There is a HUGE cultural gap that the Korean government is not accounting for.
It’s striking how well spoken and polite they are. A lot of them went straight to analysis/statistics in their answers, you can tell they are well educated.
I love my country, South Korea. But I will escape this country in the future. The hell on earth is promised in two or three decade.
If you're young, make money in another country, and when SK real estate is dirt cheap in 20 years buy all you can, because I'm sure Korea will rebound and be stronger again in 40 years.
Women who is willing to have a baby in Korea, is brave and/or naive. It is hard for women to live as a working mom, and little chance father will pay child support if they divorce. Good luck.
워킹맘 힘들죠, 한국에선 이혼해도 양육비 거의 못받는데 애를 낳는 건, 본인과 친정 엄마 개고생. 한국에서 아이난 여자분들 용감하고 순진하신듯. 행운을 빕니다.
Why do you expect a divorce? People who have children are normal functioning human beings. You life-hating fallen people are spreading misery and fear while we live in the most prosperous and peaceful era of human history.
In terms of work life balance and a happy childhood - Asia < US < Europe
I hope you can get a correspondent in Singapore to interview Singaporeans about the fertility crisis there too. Singapore has a fertility rate of 0.97, the second lowest in the world and the fertility rates among Singapore's three main ethnic groups are all below replacement level too - Chinese: 0.94, Indian: 0.97 and Malay: 1.83.
Which means money isn't the issue. They can afford them, but are gaslighting themselves.
The lowest may be is HK.
@@marioplayer1410Exactly and it is not the money but other issues too.
Funny thing is people always clown on Japan having worst birthrates but it never reached below 1.2
It's 1.4 same goes for working hours while Japan works less hours than Canada or USA
But all the Singaporean men are marrying Thais and Vietnamese
One issue I keep seeing mentioned is the cost of additional after school educational opportunities that are considered necessary due to the competitive nature of Korean society. I wonder if offering vouchers for these programs would be helpful in taking some of the burden off of families
It's my pure speculation but if those vouchers were given, I'd imagine that those businesses will just jack up the price, as they already figured out that the parents are willing to dish out the $$$ they were already charging for. The real issue is, as you've mentioned, is within the nature of the society - competitiveness. It will most likely end up government giving out free $$$ to those businesses through tax payer's $$.
Actually public schools offer a lot of afterschool programs so kids can get good afterschool activities for much less money or (free for poor families). Parents want to choose the best afterschool activities for the kids , and some activities are more expensive than others . If parents and kids get less ambitious about all those hakwon lessons, they can do less expensive, good afterschool programs at school.
@@rlftmdfl why would they do that if the national birth rate is so low it could end their whole business eventually?
Everybody is talking a lot about S.Korea but the west is the same. The only difference is that the west allows easy inmigration. If the west counted native birthrate only, it would be similar.
We are the first generation that realized how much an unstable parenting can ruin your wellbeing and we don't want to give that to our future kids but at the same time it's becoming more and more difficult to provide such environment.
The birth rate in the west (e.g. US, EU) is twice that of Korea, so no, it's not the same at all. It's true that many Western countries would also experience a population decline were it not for immigration, but Korea's situation is much, much worse. It's not really comparable at all.
@@SimonGrayDK Nah, this is just a logical fallacy. Many countries like germany had to relax inmigration policies to not end up like South Korea. If we take Spain as an example with a birthrate of 1.3 as of today, and we take into account that 32% (according to official data) of births come from inmigrant parents, the result is 0.9 which is on par with South Korea as of today if we only take into account both parents being native.
@words-island1011 Well they simply don't care. AI is replacing more and more humans as we speak and that's pretty much the only thing that people at the top want from people at the bottom.
@@morheimtv5666 Your math is incorrect. If you discount those 32% of births, then you must also not include the population of immigrants in the fertility rate calculations for natives, as the native population is smaller than the total population. There is absolutely no western country whose native population fertility rate is even close to as bad as south korea, though some are still pretty low, south korea is in a league of its own. Truly a doomed country.
Children of immigrants making the same reproductive choices as their American born counterparts proves this. Many grow up being burdened with caring for siblings or crowded into rooms sharing beds and sleeping on floors. They don't want to live that life again once they escape it.
It’s great to get contrasting perspectives. Great interviews in Itaewon 👍🏻
15:21 I was born in 🇰🇷 and bred in 🇳🇿. It’s been about 1 and a half years since I returned to 🇰🇷. I am planning to return to 🇳🇿 in the near future because 🇰🇷’s future won’t become brighter.
This is the reality for many Korean women since their work colleagues generally do not like women going on maternity leave. The main reason is that the workload from female workers on maternity leave will be redistributed, putting more pressure on their colleagues in general.
My motherland is doomed..
All countries are going down but South Korea is faster. Workload and Maternity leave issues have already existed for decades, actually are only getting better. In my opinion, the real problem is that how Koreans feel about it. Since 2017 Korean birth rate has been rapidly decreasing, it looks like it's related to the spread of social media. Because of that the culture of comparing each other has intensified and the people have started to think that they can't raise children if they are not as good as others. This can explain why birth rates in developed countries are also falling.
ㅇㅈ함 근데 사실 성차별보단 노동문제에 가까운데.. 노동 개혁이 없는 이상 한국은 망할 수밖에 없음 근데 무슨 정치인들이 한국이 단타 주식인지 쪽쪽 빨고 떠나려고 함 특히 이번 정부는 너무 심함!!
@@tamatama1your sight maybe also in the point. But in my opinion the direct reason is aborting or murdering girls in 1980~2000.
This is the reason why Korea's birth rate is more rapidly decreasing than other countries.
Additional its also just my think why decreasing birth rate is just we had so much birth in the past on simple all over the world. But i can sure the social media affects the happiness.
@@야호-s4hYes, China had that issue too which is why they have a shortage of girls so a lot of guys had to marry foreigners. Korea may have to go down that route if they don’t boost their birthrate.
Countries like Vietnam and the Philippines have overpopulation. If we intermarry, we can redistribute the population. We're all Asian anyway.
Good answers from the interviewed 👍
The first guy is locked in
It takes a village to raise a children. When people stop to expect that women give up of the whole life to raise a child by her self maybe things change
No it doesn't. It takes two parents. And yeah we get, you are completely selfish and self-centered to the degree that the most normal function of human existence seems to be an impossible burden now. You externalize all of your immaturity into unrealistic demands while simultaneously leeching off the benefits of the most prosperous and peaceful society without contributing to it.
Reproduction and family == human life. There is NOTHING without it.
As many have pointed out, the issues are government and living costs. It makes it difficult and intimidating to start a family when financials are uncertain in your later life. Another factor is, that women can make a living for themselves. So many don't see the need to find a man.
Women not being dependent on men is a huge factor in most of these population talks.
In every single first world country women at large will choose this. Even in Europe where they have cushions and safety nets and men able to take months off for childcare, many women will choose not to have children or depend on a man. Honestly why would that ever be the better choice individually?
@@Riu-bw4bl You should see marriage rates of women by age. It's fascinating. It steadily increases with a sudden dip around 40s due to divorce and a very quick turn around. The vast majority of women over 50 are married. Women are all about being boss girls until they're old and tired of toiling away at the widget factory. Most prefer to depend on men by that age.
@@tann_man😂😂😂 what rubbish
@@jiminkaijinyoungnikkie9921You don't have to take my word for it. Research "percent non married women and women not in registered partnership by age"
The only solution is to minimize government and stop all of these subsidies that allow people to exist without contributing. No free university degrees, no free lunches.
the lady with white shirt is so true, taking care of oneself is a big challenge itself let alone taking care of a child
18:30 She nailed it on the head. It's not even South Korea that needs to do this. It's every developed country in the world. Stop asking why people aren't having kids and go change society from the ground up. Change what it means to be alive. Right now everywhere its about work, work, and more work. Everyone is working constantly but only a handful at the top enjoy the luxuries of life. The rest make barely enough and basically have no time to actually live life. Why would I want to bring kids to come experience this mess?
I believe the people in charge are making a lot of money for themselves which also explains what they mean by “ What happened to all the money they invested “ and I believe a solution the Korean people can do is that they can all collaborate and confront the government about the issues and say “ if you want us to have children do this and this “ and if the government truly cares they will try their best to fix it. otherwise Korea and Koreans might parish if nothing is changed.
I feel that the best solution for them is to increase mental/mood therapy provided by the government, offer mothers a friendly welcome back to the workforce, dismantle patriarchy, and educate men/sons about sharing household responsibilities.
Also, make them stop the thinking of being perfect.
Personal experience here: the English kindergarden question in the video and in the comment section made realise that there's probably of a lot of parents paying extremely expensive English classes for their children. If you, who is reading this, do that, I would advice you to stop. Language isn't something you can learn but having a really good teacher and buying a bunch of books. English is my second language and I can assure you no teacher taught me English. Languages is something you need to pratice, immerse yourself into, and have someone to pratice with. These goes for any language. Maybe no one will see this or even disagree, but if you genuinely want to learn a language: find a native speaker of your desired language or a friend to also learn the language and practice with them, the rest is somewhere for free on apps like Doulingo or Babbel.
I don’t agree because if you want to learn any language properly, you need a teacher to teach you. Immersion and all that comes after you form a foundation from classes and instruction. Otherwise, you will just be speaking randomly. People will understand you, but you will never speak properly. I studied SLA so know it all too well. I teach languages and have learned languages. It is not that simple.
@@TrinhNguyen-sh4fj if people understand you then its not random. Its a slang/ crappy form of the language. most of history people did not study language but picked it up over time.
Great video thanks for the upload
I really think that Korean culture needs to change and stop almost vilifying single parents households and have more places that help those parents and children. There also needs to be incentives to have kids in Korea but living there is a grind and will make people want to just fend for themselves and not want to have kids. It was brutal for my mom back in the 90s and doesn't seem like much has changed. Let's not even talk about the "hidden" homeless crisis there.
Single parent household's should not be the norm... wtf...
@@bigbadwulf5785 They should also not be treated like outcasts because things happen in life that can't be predicted.
@@bigbadwulf5785 I don't think anyone anticipates being in such a situation. A little bit of humanity in such situations goes a long way I think
@@bigbadwulf5785 It should not be the norm,but you should not discriminate against them too. People divorce, widow and other reasons too. Who chooses to be a single parent if they did not have to be?
I think the ultimate causes of low birth rate across all countries, not just SK (but SK has it the worst by far) is simple. When people had kids in the past, it was not to sustain happiness but simply to keep up with societal expectations of what people should do during that time. This expectation also came from the idea that having more kids would lead to more economic stability in the future, since more kids can work in the family business or the fields etc.. This is why developing countries still have high birth rates, since the idea that kids can work in their family business or earn for their families is still prevalent. In developed countries, most people end up working for large corporations, which leads to more competition for jobs. More competition means children have to be trained more thoroughly, thus increasing childcare costs. The balance of the benefits of having kids vs the costs becomes much more askewed, thus leading to the young generation of developed countries to opt out of children to become more competitive.
Thats why the problem is not purely cultural values nor economic values--its both. Even if Koreans decided tomorrow that having kids is tantamount for their future, it would not solve the expectation of children needing to have xyz to be competitive in the future society and to live decent lives. That expectation and standard has to be lowered. The issue with South Korea is that its Hell Josseon, where 90% of the countrys jobs and wealth come from a few major business families--which ultimately makes those jobs so goddamn competitive. So as long as those companies continue to maintain that standard, either nothing will change or people will have to accept living in poverty to be able to keep families.
I am a gen x male and the main reason I chose to be single for my life is that I saw in the 80's have much humanity doesn't care about the environment, where money was more important than human beings and the corrupt / discriminant societal foundations that mainly pandered to the political / money elite (not n=much has changed and getting worse) etc. This is why I never wanted to bring children into a unsafe place to exist.
Probably the first thing is to change Korea so that Seoul isn't the only desirable place to live. All industries have to be spread out.
Seoul is everything it seems like..no other cities can even compete..when all your eggs are in one basket its gonna collapse..south Korea needs other cities to develop in jobs and communities which will help keep competitiveness prices down. Thats more of a government issue. What south koreans are not thinking is there jobs will shrink they will work way more harder and longer hours and the prices will skyrocket so much all the dreams of every south korean will be completely squashed. These people go to college and this is taught in most basic classes on how populations and business work...by 2050 it will be too late ...investors will pull out etc...but i feel there pain..that one guy said it best..cant keep up with inflation.
The interesting thing is they have 5 cities with more than 1 million and others with hundreds of thousands of people. Surely they are not miserable? It drives me mad to see real estate articles in English language news talking about increase or decline and always bringing up Gangnam and always Seoul. In the U.S. we don’t only hear about Beverly Hills. Why is only .5% of units of concern?
@@kristinesharp6286 "only .5%" - half of South Korea lives in the metropolitan area.
@@an0nycat .5% live in Gangnam. Not only is it about living in Seoul there is elitism over which part. The press is always using Gangnam as the benchmark. Prices were up .7% this month in Gangnam. It’s like only hearing about US real estate what happened in Beverly Hills. Or Palo Alto. And that does something to public mindset. It suggests what happened there happened everywhere, which it may not have. And it suggests it’s the only place that matters. You know why so many live in half basements in Seoul. The address. They could live in a perfectly fine 18P place with multiple rooms somewhere else, even within the capital region.
I'm not even from Korea, but I can completely relate to the reasons they've given here. Having and raising kids properly (i.e. giving them all they need, familial and economic stability, making sure they grow up kind and competent and with a fighting chance for themselves), especially in this time of economic hardships, really starts to seem like a faraway and impossible dream. We can barely afford a proper home or healthcare for ourselves, what in the world would make us think we can give those to our kids.
South Korea is richer than ever in the history of its existence? This money argument doesn't make any sense because in the poorest countries people have a lot more children.
부모님세대때는 아이를 낳고 가정을 꾸리고 내가 즐길거 먹을거를 줄여서 자녀한테 쓰는게 큰 기쁨이었지만 지금 세대는 자녀, 배우자보다 나 자신의 삶이 중요함. 누가 나쁜게 아니라 가치관이 바꼈다는거
True .
It's more about values and mindset.
Is this even a question lol
It's obvious different generation different outlook and experiences
The citizens know of the problem but can't do anything about it because even the government is not doing enough.
The government is _always_ the problem. Well-meaning programs have devastating effects. Minimize government - minimize the problems.
It's really sad that Korean people think that if they are married or raising children, they have to give up their carrier. In my country, even a woman have children they still can continue their carrier and do whatever they want. they have commitment with their husbands so they can think how to raise their children together. They don't have to give up their job just because they married.
I agree and marriage and kids should not be a meet all end all.
If a woman in Korea has a child, then they are going to face a lot of discrimination in the workplace. People will think that because they are mothers, they will not perform their work has good has before. Also, they will be judged for working rather than staying at home with their children. So yeah, if they have children they will most likely have to give up on their career.
I'm sure that you can find videos about it on UA-cam.
@@laurelabouffetrue, and they don't offer the programs that other countries offer such as paternity leave so they don't make it easy on mothers at all to keep their jobs. If anything they turn being a mother into a hurdle.
@@GetUnwoke I didn't know, thank your for this information !
Women have it hard there.
Korea has one of the highest women's rights in the world. Higher the women's rights, lower the birth rates. Husbands want the wife to either work or be a committing housewife but the wives are just lazy and complain about how they're getting discriminated against when it's just that they're incompetent and don't put in the effort. No wonder 80% of Korean citizenship renouncements are men. Korean men are now flying out of the country in droves to live in foreign countries and/or find foreign wives.
I think one of the primary problems in SK is that a fifth of the population is literally concentrated in Seoul. The housing prices are exacerbated because of the economic impact of one major city, which in itself is a problem as it causes different things like discrepancies in tax base and where those taxes are being dispersed as a result of Seoul. It’s not uncommon for people to be commuting from out of Seoul and for long commutes at that, most likely having to struggle with finding housing within the city to fix that shortcoming.
The birth rate problem is a complex, nuanced issue that takes into account cultural reasons, economic reasons, and the nature of a society that has built itself on a foundation of hypercapitalism. Despite this, it would 100% be a great start if Seoul is no longer the only major city in South Korea.
I was born in South Korea but immigrated as a kid. I’ve had a very successful career and have also been able to have two kids. My husband and I make it work. We have two demanding careers. I feel sad that these young Koreans feel they have to choose.
Do u want to have kids?
Men: Yes 🙂
Women: No 💅
If women doesn't want kids, Then it’s end of discussion, a woman shouldn't have kids, just cause a man wants one. I’m not arguing, im just writing this, if someone starts saying, that a woman must have kids
Too bad, because that will lead to a society collapse like Japan. So bye bye to K-Pop and KDrama.
@@andriod8014 it won't be the first trend to come and go😂😂😂. This isn't scaring anyone
@@andriod8014 "like Japan"
Have you heard, guys? Japan has fallen.
Did we watch the same video? It seems like most wanted kids, but both men and women seemed to think of it as a big financial burden. As in they can't afford it.
10:22 That grandpa is such a character
The girl that spoke last made very good points.
pay more, more rights to women, more paternity paid leave, start supporting stay at home moms, allow your population more paid vacation/LOA. Stop stereotyping paternal roles where the dad(s) holds a job, and the mom stays at home to do all the work. People want balance, teamwork, community and cooperation...every country is blaming the young for doing what we were told (go to a good school/get a good job) but now...they don't want to pay us for our hard work. How can anyone, no matter how many children we want, be able to afford a child if we can't afford ourselves. People in the early 20th century could live off of 20$ for a whole week...now, 20$ will barely get you a full tank of gas, groceries, hell it can barely get you lunch!
The issue isn’t gender equality. It’s a big issue, but it’s not the main reason people aren’t having kids. It’s the extreme work culture and the high costs of living, especially since everyone wants to live in Seoul, because everything is centered around there.
Company get loss when they give paternity leave of 12 months cause the work is transferred to other people. So i guess it is impossible what you are asking for
Women are Financial burden on Companies 🤣.
Paternity Leave, Child Care leave, More pay, Blah blah blah 🤣🤣🤣
Everything you listed are the reasons why people aren't creating families. All this "I want" stuff from the government is why people don't take control of their lives and live autonomously. People are entitled and just wait for handouts. You are not owed anything. The more resources women get, the less likely they are to do anything productive - including nurturing a family. The more resources a man gets, the more willing he is to have people depend on him.
Korea is controlled by few companies. Korea takes it to whole new level than Russia in Oligarchy.
And what does BlackRock do as a company in the USA, among others. You easily see problems in other places forgetting you have the exact same circumstances. If not worse.
@@tresphorempundu3185 BlackRock is overhyped by social media. Just like WEF or other BS.
Compare BlackRock to Samsung or Hyundai. It like 30k car to 300k car
Korea economic fast paced development failed its society.
It aint sustainable
Developing country should never follow this model of development.
@@tresphorempundu3185 Blackrock represents a low percentage of the US economy because the US economy is so massive and more diverse. Samsung alone represents like 15-20% of the Korean GDP and the Chaebols combined are like more than 30%, that is not sustainable.
@@fedyx1544 I know, but BlackRock is just one among many huge corporations in America. Blackrock alone has assets close to 11 trillion dollars. Don't underestimate the amount of power they have in USA.
한국은 애를 가질려면 일단 결혼을 해야하고 한국에서 결혼이라는것은 양가가족과 일하던 회사에서 모두 동의를 받고 일련의 가족합병의식을 거쳐야 한국사회에서 인정하는 결혼관계가 성립된다
기본적으로 여기서 한 사람이 대략 35년간 모아둔 전부 재산이 사회 재분배의 과정을 거치고 커다란 빚을 떠안게 된다(전세집 구하기,예물,스드메,식장비용 등등등).즉 상당부분의 청년들이 결혼 자체를 부담스러워서 못한다
안정적인 연애를 하고 둘다 백수도 아니고 모아둔돈도 있고 가족들도 합조적이라 커플이 결혼을 했다 치자
아이를 한명만 낳는다쳐도 가구월소득 최소 400만원은 되어야 하는데,한국사회에서 결혼까지 할 수 있는 20대초반~30대 중반의 부부는 대부분 이 수준을 충족하나,여자가 임신출산을 하는 도중는 남자가 외벌이로 그만큼 벌어야 함.
여자는 출산휴가 인정해주는 직장 아니면 경력단절을 각오해야하니 대부분 아이를 낳고 전업주부로써 평생을 살아갈지 커리어활동을 선택할지의 기로에 놓이게 됨
반면
미국은 십대부터 미혼모가 되는것에 거리낌이 없다 심지어 미혼모인 상태로 애를 계속 낳는다 그 아이들이 학교에 가서 미혼모 아이라고 손가락질당할일도 없다 아이는 연애의 산물도 아니고 그냥 섹스의 산물인 듯하다 극빈층이던 장애인이던 중산층 15살 딸내미던 애를 그냥 낳는다.어디 정부지원이나 받아먹으면서 마약빨면서 애키우기도 하고,미혼모인 상태로 유명인이 될수도 있고 국회의원이 될 수도 있다
반면 한국은 미혼모가 가질수 있는 직업은 식당직원, 편순이 정도가 되겠다.
Almost all the children that come from teenage pregnancies including the underage parents are not treated as well as you think. A lot of them are kicked out by their families before they graduate highschool, and their children are bullied because of the words the adults around them say. Often, the underage parents don't mature quick enough to parent their children, and many are deadbeats due to running away. The US might not have the same problems when it comes to birthrate declining, but they have their own separate issues that aren't talked about all that much either.
@@jihyungpark535 but its true that you can still make it and there are plenty of kids from such households who get out and can work in high positions. Its definitely not as impossible as it is in Korea. Also the stigma wont follow you into university, and it also wont follow you into your job or impede you from getting married and having children that are born into a good family -> the cycle can be broken!.
I get what you're saying though, I do remember some kids being bullied but it came more from adults than the kids (and it was often more so pity than bullying). Life isn't easy but there's hope :)
The birthrate in the US is well below replacement value, currently around 1.66. (2.1 is replacement.) The only reason why the US population is not declining is because the US has massive, industrial-scale immigration, of a sort that only a few other countries do (Australia, Canada). But the US has been doing it for longer than those other countries and the consequence is that the actual population of the US is demographically changing very rapidly. In 1950, the US was 85% White people. Today, it is 57%. Within 10-15 years, it will be less than 50%.
South Korea could spare itself oblivion by just accepting lots of immigrants. But would the average Korean be willing to become a statistical minority in their own country? I suspect most would actually prefer oblivion, unironically. And, in fairness, what's the point of survival if the price you pay is that you're not _you_ anymore? Have "you" really survived if your people have simply been replaced by other people in your own lands? It's a very arguable point.
아이고 결혼 없이 아이 가지는 거 저는 안될 일이라고 봐요. 만약 남자가 마음이 떠나서 이제 헤어지자고 하면 양육비 한푼도 못 받아서 엄마한테 전적으로 불리하게 됩니다. 일단 애가 태어난 직후에 대부분의 엄마들은 일을 못해서 수입이 없으니 더욱이...
문제 중 하나를 들은 거지. 설마 이유가 이거 하나겠니 @@TEMUJINDAD
here;s the thing. i did not study and work my as$ off just to suddenly stop working and risking my promotion and income just because i have to carry my baby for 9 months and take care of it. if my job is guaranteed that it wont affect anything after my pregnancy and motherhood, i dont mind. but i know it doesnt work like that and im not in that position yet. im not the kind of person who trust people to take care of my child too because i dont want to be an absent parent. i dont want to give birth to someone so they just suffer in this world. so i'd rather not to have children and just have partner or no partner at all. maybe i have become too comfortable in my single life.