South Korea’s fertility rate continues fall with just 230,000 births in 2023

The number of babies expected per woman in a lifetime fell to 0.72 last year from 0.78 in 2022, according to data released Wednesday by South Korea’s national statistics office. The number of births also slid by 7.7% to 230,000, setting a new low for comparable data in a nation of about 50 million people.

The lack of babies is speeding up the aging of South Korean society, generating concerns about the growing fiscal burden of public pensions and health care. 

“From medical services to welfare, demand for spending will increase while fewer taxes will be collected as the number of young people decreases,” said Shin Seung-keun, a professor of fiscal policy at Tech University of Korea. 

President Yoon Suk Yeol has run into difficulties as he tries to take action in response to the demographic challenges the nation is facing.

Yoon’s government is seeking to boost the number of medical students in a country that has one of the most acute shortages of doctors in the developed world, according to figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. 

Thousands of trainee doctors have handed in their resignations and walked out in protest, saying the plan doesn’t address key issues with their working conditions. That’s resulted in a standoff threatening lives ahead of parliamentary elections in April. 

Doctors are pointing to the low number of births as a reason the government should scrap its plan to raise medical school intakes by about two-thirds.

Beyond the strains on the medical system, low fertility is also threatening South Korea’s economic prosperity and dynamism in the long term by shrinking its workforce and slowing consumption. 

Bank of Korea Governor Rhee Chang-yong has said that the low…