Hwang Sun-ja, a member of the Daegu City Council (People Power Party, Dalseo-gu 3), announced that she will urge Daegu City to implement groundbreaking measures to address low birth rates during the 5-minute free speech at the 2nd plenary session of the 314th extraordinary meeting held on the 21st.
Councilor Hwang explained the background of her remarks, stating, “Daegu City's total fertility rate is 0.7, ranking fourth lowest nationwide, and the population decline rate is predicted to be more than twice the national average. For Daegu City's sustainable future, it is necessary to prepare more proactive and realistic childbirth promotion policies.”
To increase the birth rate, Councilor Hwang plans to propose ‘hardware support policies’ such as changing the eligibility for birth congratulatory payments from the second child to the first child, increasing the home care allowance by 100%, and providing housing by utilizing unsold units in newly built and reconstructed apartments.
Secondly, she will propose ‘software support policies’ including campaigns to improve awareness that mainly highlight the positive meanings of marriage and childbirth, such as support projects for unmarried men and women to meet and parenting education programs to become good parents.
Councilor Hwang concluded her remarks by saying, “The focus of birth rate increase policies is not simply to ‘raise the birth rate’ but to ‘enable children to be born and raised well.’ Along with realistic financial support, a social environment where marriage and childbirth can naturally follow each other must be created.”
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