The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) announced a set of measures on Thursday aimed at resolving the country’s critically low birthrate, such as providing rented housing for couples with multiple babies.
The country’s downward demographic spiral has become a critical issue as rival parties gear up for April’s parliamentary elections. The ruling People Power Party is also scheduled to announce its own package of measures later in the day.
The country’s fertility rate — the number of children expected to be born to a woman over her lifetime — fell to an all-time low of 0.78 last year, well below the replacement level of 2.1 that would keep the country’s population stable at 51.5 million.
“The fertility rate is said to drop to 0.5 two years after. This is an unimaginable figure,” Chairman Lee Jae-myung said, adding that the DP’s latest measures, named a “dream package,” focus on enticing more young people to get married, have babies and raise them.
Among the most notable measures is to provide young co
uples with houses in the public rental system when they have two or more babies.
Citing rising real estate prices as one of the causes behind young people being reluctant to get married, such houses will be provided for up to 10 years after their marriage.
Additionally, up to 100 million won (US$74,000) in low-interest loans will be issued for new couples, regardless of their income or assets, for up to 10 years. Both the interest rate and the amount will be deducted when they have babies.
Cash payouts of 200,000 won per child aged from 8 to 17 will be provided, and an additional 100,000 won will be provided for every child into a fund account until the child turns 18.
Child care services will also be provided to every family, regardless of their income, and single parents will receive extra vouchers.
The DP said it expects such measures to entail around 28 trillion won annually, which is around the same amount of 30 trillion won currently poured every year for measures to tackle the problem.
Source: Y
onhap News Agency