"Growing Similar, Then Suddenly Leading"... Korea's Low Birthrate Highlighted by Japanese Media

Annual Total Fertility Rate of 0.72 Last Year
Major Japanese Media Spotlight South Korea's Fertility Rate

Japanese media are showing great interest in the news that South Korea's total fertility rate has dropped to an all-time low and is among the lowest in the world.

On the 29th, Sankei Shimbun published news about South Korea's low birthrate on its front page and page 3. In particular, the article on page 3 featured a report-style coverage of the shipbuilding factory area in Samho-eup, Yeongam-gun, Jeollanam-do, where many foreign workers reside, with the subtitle "Rapid Decline in Birthrate, Japan's Future?"

Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) reported the fertility rate statistics on its front page and ran an article on page 15 introducing the low birthrate policies of past South Korean governments. Nikkei noted that the low birthrate issue is a common challenge among many advanced countries including Japan, but Japan's 2022 fertility rate of 1.26 is similar to South Korea's level in 2015. It added, "The success or failure of South Korea's response, which is ahead in terms of severity, will serve as a reference for Japan's measures."

Asahi Shimbun also covered related news across pages 1, 3, and 9. The newspaper diagnosed that the situation of South Korea's young generation, whose lives have become tough due to soaring housing prices and fierce academic competition, overlaps with that of Japan, and published an interview with a South Korean. The interviewee is Jeong Soyeon (41), a science fiction novelist and lawyer. In the interview, she said, "When I got married 15 years ago, I naturally thought I would have children," and explained the reasons for choosing a 'birth strike' including career management issues, childcare environment, and social atmosphere.

Yomiuri Shimbun also covered South Korea's low birthrate issue on pages 2 and 7. Most major Japanese newspapers dispatched Seoul correspondents to not only deliver simple statistics but also examine the causes and shed light on the atmosphere in South Korean society.

Meanwhile, South Korea's Statistics Korea announced in statistics released the previous day that the annual total fertility rate last year was 0.72, setting a new all-time low again. The total fertility rate has been declining for eight consecutive years since peaking at 1.24 in 2015. The decline rate, which was 0.03 in both 2021 and 2022, doubled last year, indicating an accelerating downward trend. In fact, the total fertility rate in the fourth quarter of last year was 0.65, down 0.05 from a year earlier, breaking below the 0.70 level. This is the first time the quarterly fertility rate has fallen into the 0.6 range. As of 2021, among the 38 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), South Korea is the only country with a total fertility rate below 1.00.