South Korea's challenge: Low fertility rate and Government's policies to enhance fertility rate.

Abstract

Since the Asian financial crisis in 1997, South Korea has undergone institutional changes in social welfare, especially in childcare and maternity protection policies (Chang, 1999; Seo, 2017). The changes were supposed to increase the birth rate (Song, 2003), but it is still declining, and policies are not effective (OECD, 2021). Birth rates are lowest among OECD member countries, population is aging, and economic and social consequences are being expected (Stephens, 2012, p. 7). It is in the government's interest to provide various family policies to ensure work-family life and a healthy family life (Chin, Lee, Lee, Son, Sung, 2011). The aim of this work is to partially contribute to the elucidation of the phenomenon of low fertility rate in South Korea. The thesis focuses on the questions of whether family policies tend to strengthen, whether a deeply developing social regime does not necessarily lead to social change, and whether Confucianism has a negative effect on fertility. This diploma thesis analyzes the phenomenon of low birth rates from many perspectives: economic (Becker, 1960), familialistic (Leitner, 2003) and cultural (Pfau-Effinger, 2005). In the economic part, an analysis of direct costs of South Korean families is performed, focusing on consumption expenditures on food, clothing,...