Solving Seoul's low birthrate problem requires shifting marriage and childbirth policies to match the demographic changes ahead, an argument raised at a recent forum. In particular, as the proportion of aging pregnancies rises in Seoul, participants suggested that the city should build an integrated medical system encompassing delivery and pediatric care, rather than stopping at support for fertility treatments.
The Korean National Council of Women held a policy forum under the theme "Seoul, a City Good for Raising Children" at the Korea Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Monday. The forum was arranged to seek solutions to the low birthrate problem. According to the National Data Agency, Seoul's total fertility rate last year was 0.63, the lowest among the country's 17 metropolitan cities and provinces. The total fertility rate is the average number of children a woman is expected to have during her lifetime, and the national average for the same year was 0.80.
Cho Young-tae, head of Seoul National University's Population Policy Research Center, who gave the keynote presentation, stressed that marriage and childbirth policies must also change to match the demographic shifts ahead. Currently, those born in the 1990s are the core childbearing generation, and the annual number of births when they were born reached about 800,000. However, in 10 years, those born in the 2000s—when the number of births had fallen to around 400,000—will become the core childbearing group. Since the childbearing-age population itself is greatly declining, policy design must take this into account, he explained.
Responding to the increase in aging pregnancies was also presented as a challenge. Pregnancies at age 35 or older are generally considered aging pregnancies, and last year the proportion of aging pregnancies in Seoul was 44%, higher than the national average of 37%. "We should not stop at expanding support for fertility treatments, but also prepare policies that can raise the success rate of these procedures," Cho said.
Some raised the view that a control tower is needed to strengthen the delivery and pediatric care systems. Hwang In-cheol, chief of the obstetrics and gynecology department at Seoul Medical Center, said, "To raise a child, one must first be able to have a child, but there is currently a severe shortage of obstetric specialists." He added, "A control tower is needed that can oversee emergency deliveries and coordinate the situation across all of Seoul." He continued, "Through this, we must build a cooperative care system among medical institutions."
There were also points made that a systematic support design is needed to organically connect parental leave and care services. For example, if care support is expanded at the same time a couple takes leave or reduces working hours for childcare, a "mismatch" can occur in which the child is actually using childcare facilities. Choi Young, a professor of social welfare at Chung-Ang University, said, "There is a need to design a support system so that parental care and care and education services can be linked according to the child's growth stages."
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said he would work to create an environment good for raising children. In his congratulatory address that day, Oh said, "To make Seoul a livable global top-three city, an environment good for having and raising children is essential," adding, "We will create an environment where children can grow up healthy, and will strive to establish Seoul's policies as a model case."
