Yongin City Significantly Increases Budget for 'Low Birthrate Measures'

297.4 Billion Won Invested in 79 Projects... 25% Increase Compared to Previous Year

Yongin City in Gyeonggi Province is significantly increasing its budget to address issues related to non-marriage and low birth rates.

On the 25th, Yongin City announced that it will introduce customized policies to respond to low birth rates in order to create an environment where citizens can easily have and raise children. The city plans to greatly expand support to create an environment where citizens can marry, give birth, and raise children without burden.

To this end, the city has prepared 79 projects in three areas this year: 48 projects in the child sector, 24 projects in the youth sector, and 7 projects in awareness improvement, with a budget of 297.43 billion KRW. This is a 24.6% increase compared to last year’s 238.646 billion KRW.

In particular, the city will pour 267.631 billion KRW, which is 90% of the related budget, into the child support sector so that direct benefits reach children in need of care.

The city will continue the policy of expanding childbirth incentives, which citizens identified as the most necessary policy in social surveys. The budget by sector includes 2.25 billion KRW for childbirth support funds, 12.642 billion KRW for the First Meeting Voucher, 93.545 billion KRW for parental allowances, and 67.191 billion KRW for child allowances.

As a support measure to reduce the childcare burden for dual-income families, the city will additionally support 10% of the self-pay amount for the child care support project for families with two or more children. Furthermore, seven public daycare centers and three Together Care Centers will be expanded, and the number of daycare assistant teachers will be increased from 62 last year to 65 this year.

Notably, the city will open the 'Ijoa-yong Children’s Restaurant' in Namsa-eup, Cheoin-gu, which will provide weekday evening meals and lunch during vacations for children from dual-income families for the first time.

Support measures have also been prepared to help young people achieve economic independence, leading to marriage and childbirth. The city will support up to 1 million KRW for housing deposit and monthly rent for young people without homes and also support the guarantee fee for the return of jeonse deposits (14.2 million KRW). A budget of 17 million KRW will be invested to support interest on jeonse loans for newlywed couples. Starting this year, the Work Bridge project will provide customized career design to help young people preparing for employment find careers suited to their aptitudes.

Meanwhile, as of 2022, the number of births in Yongin City was 5,691, a 5% decrease from 5,990 in the previous year. During the same period, the total fertility rate also dropped from 0.873 to 0.84. Due to the low birth rate, the proportion of children and adolescents under 18 decreased from 19% in 2019 to 16.6% last year, while the elderly population increased from 12.6% to 15.4% during the same period.

Lee Sang-il, Mayor of Yongin City, said, "The low birth rate issue is a demographic challenge that must be structurally resolved across various aspects of society," adding, "We will not simply limit the low birth rate phenomenon to the problems of childbirth families but will steadily implement lifecycle-based population policies so that all generations across society can solve this together."