Shanghai in China has a fertility rate 0f 0.50
Some parts of South Korea like wards of Seoul and Busan are already in or below 0.30 children per woman
In 2023 Taiwan’s fertility rate was 0.865 and still going downside
The Hong kong one was 0.75 kids per woman
Singapore is 0.97 (and declining very fast)
Japan is the highest at 1.20 (with Tokyo being 0.99) and they’re declining also really fast
Why???
In: Other
I see a lot of answer mentioning work culture but I think that’s far from the main reason.
As a resident in Korea, the number 1 reason in Korea at least is cost of living by far. Now everything is stupid expensive, I talked to young coworkers who gave up the dream of owning their own place because of how the real estate market have skyrocketed. On a normal/average salary that’s out of reach in Seoul and surroundings to buy a decent one now.
Now you factor in the marriage cost, because it’s still conservative if you want to have a child you need to marry before. Then you factor in honeymoon cost. Then you need a car. Then when you have a child you need to think you’ll have to pay for expensive academies because of the stupid competitive system for kids to go to a good university.
Cost of life is high now so living on one paycheck is complicated. Both parents need to work. So you need to pay a nanny or something on top of it.
And finally, people enjoy their own life, hobbies and there’s a social pressure on success, and having a child is a setback in that regard. That’s a sacrifice that is too costly to make for many, hence no children.
Long work hours wouldn’t matter that much imo if the cost of life was affordable. Though it is also crucial to have a healthy work life balance for sure.
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