Child Household Ratio 23.3%... 3% of Children from Multicultural Families

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] The proportion of households with children has been declining every year, now accounting for less than one in four households.

According to the Statistics Korea's 'Child Household Statistical Register' on the 2nd, as of 2019, the proportion of households with children under the age of 18 (child households) was only 23.3%, with 4.873 million households out of a total of 20.881 million households.

The proportion of child households was 27.9% in 2015 but has been decreasing annually to 26.9% in 2016, 25.8% in 2017, and 24.6% in 2018.

Among child households, the proportion of households with one child increased from 49.4% in 2015 to 50.8% in 2019. During the same period, the proportion of households with two children decreased from 43.1% to 41.7%. The proportion of households with three children remained the same at 6.9%, and those with four or more children slightly decreased from 0.7% to 0.6%.

The number of children with multicultural parents, where at least one parent is a foreigner or naturalized citizen, was 237,000, accounting for 3.0% of all children. The proportion of children with multicultural parents increased from 2.1% in 2015 to 2.5% in 2016, 2.6% in 2017, and 2.8% in 2018.

Children raised by both parents numbered 6.875 million (87.9%), while those living with only one parent were 612,000 (7.8%). Children not living with parents but living with relatives or in facilities totaled 337,000 (4.3%).

Comparing 2015 and 2019, children raised by both parents decreased from 88.2% to 87.9%, and those raised by a single parent also decreased from 8.2% to 7.8%. Children not raised by parents increased from 3.7% to 4.3%.

Meanwhile, the Child Household Statistical Register is provided from this month through statistical data to link information about parents and household members based on children rather than the traditional household head. This register reflects family changes and the current employment status of caregiving parents from 2015 to 2019.