'Nobel Laureate' Goldin: "South Korea's Ultra-Low Birthrate Due to Women's Sole Childcare Burden" [American Economic Association 2025]

2025 AEA Annual Meeting
"Large Gap in Household Labor Hours Between Korean Men and Women"
"Men Lag Behind in Gender Norms Amid Rapid Development"

"The difference in the time Korean men and women spend on household chores is enormously larger than in any other country."

Claudia Goldin, Harvard University professor and 2023 Nobel Prize in Economics laureate, met with Korean reporters at the '2025 American Economic Association (AEA) Annual Meeting' held from March 3 to 5 (local time) in San Francisco, USA, and when asked about the main causes of low birth rates in Korea, she said, "Korea experienced very rapid economic growth, and (in that process) men have lagged behind women in terms of gender norms."

Professor Claudia Goldin of Harvard University. San Francisco - Special Correspondent Haeyoung Kwon

She explained, "There is a reason why women say, 'If you don't take care of the child, I cannot have a baby,'" adding, "That is exactly the reason (for Korea's low birth rate)."

Korea's total fertility rate has declined for eight consecutive years from 1.24 in 2015 to a historic low of 0.72 last year.

Regarding the Korean government's expansion of childbirth and childcare subsidies, Professor Goldin pointed out that "it is not working well even in Europe" and is not a fundamental solution to increase the birth rate.

Professor Goldin introduced her new paper published last December, titled 'Babies and the Macroeconomy,' explaining that it focused on Korea's low birth rate case. The paper contains findings that the lower the participation of men in household chores and childcare, the lower the birth rate, which is especially prominent in countries with rapidly developing economies. According to OECD statistics, when Korean women spend 10 hours on household and childcare labor, Korean men spend 2.3 hours, which is low compared to Japan (1.8 hours) and T?rkiye (2.2 hours), ranking among the lowest male participation rates in household chores.

In her paper, Professor Goldin argued, "In countries like Korea and Japan that have experienced rapid economic growth, conflicts between traditional customs and modern values have intensified, leading to a sharp decline in women's fertility rates," and emphasized, "There is a fundamental need to reconsider women's social status and intergenerational role distribution."

She also stressed the importance of establishing national-level childcare policies. In her presentation at the session titled 'Who Cares? Care, Care Work, and Family Leave Policies' held on the 3rd, she emphasized that "childcare policies have had a significant impact on women's participation in economic activities and the economy" and that future policy discussions, including the establishment of national childcare policies, are essential.

Professor Goldin has conducted research on women's roles in the labor market and received the 2023 Nobel Prize in Economics. She was appointed the first tenured female professor in the Department of Economics at Harvard University in 1990 and served as president of the American Economic Association in 2013.