• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
• /
• 2021.05a
• /
• pp.496-498
• /
• 2021

In Korea, based on the high fertility rate before 1980, the total population has been steadily increasing, and since the mid-1980s, the fertility rate has fallen sharply and has fallen below the level of population replacement. The cause of low birth rate in the region is not voluntary rejection, but rather, it is necessary to find out the cause by identifying the structural causes of the local community from various angles. We collected local Internet news and local representative cafe data, where many mothers participate, based on the budget area with a very low fertility rate among various areas. Factors of childbirth inhibition were analyzed by using the frequency of concurrent words that became issues related to population decline, low birthrate, and child-rearing welfare.

• 한국사회복지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2005.04a
• /
• pp.423-444
• /
• 2005

본 논설은 1960년대 초 이래로 강력히 시행되었던 만국의 출산억제 정책이 여성들의 삶과 새로운 가족규범 및 사회 전반에 미친 영향력에 관하여 Global Standard의 출산복지라는 잣대에 준거하여 검토해 보고자 한다. 이러한 목적을 위하여 연구 방법론으로는 문헌조사 및 인터뷰를 사용한다. 문헌조사를 통하여 한국 정부 및 국내외관련기관들에 남겨진 기록들을 검토하고 인터뷰를 통하여 산아제한운동에 직접 관여하였거나 깊은 관심을 갖었던 주요 인사들의 증언을 수집한다. 구체적으로 1961년부터 1992년까지 시행된 한국의 출산율 감소정책에 대한 사례연구를 Global Standard의 출산복지에 비추어 검토한다. 한국의 인구통제정책의 근원을 밝혀내고 만국의 출산율 감소정책이 공식화되고 시행되는데 관련되었던 국내외의 세력들을 탐색해 본다. 특히 주요 정치인들과 정책 결정자들이 여성의 자율적 출산권(出産權)을 통제하게 된 동기, 철학 그리고 배후의 이익 등을 규명하기 위하여 본 연구는 정책의 여러 측면들을 탐구한다.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.111-125
• /
• 2012

The total fertility rate of our nation has been in the world's lowest level with constant falling since it reached an all-time low in 1983. The increase in economic participation of women, difficulties to balance work and family life, and traditional gender role and family norms in our society have been blamed for causing low birth rates. In addition, the current economic recession and increased polarization of wealth make it more difficult for working families to balance work and family life, resulting in lowering fertility rates. The Korean government has recently prepared the second five-year basic plan(2011-2015) to deal with low fertility and population ageing. The basic plan aims at providing support for working families in balancing work and family life and helping people ease the burden of marriage, childbirth, and raising their children. The work-family balance policies based on gender equality will do much to increase fertility rates in the future. In this context, this study examined current status and problems of balancing work and family life in our society, the Korean government and corporate policies for work-family balance, and the effects of policies on childbirth. Suggestions for future directions are presented.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.41-52
• /
• 2021

The purpose of this study is to examine how female labor force participation, family policies, and gender equality are related to fertility rate across countries. Multiple measures has been collected from various data sources(such as OECD, UNDP, and WVS) and the panel data set which includes (mostly) OECD countries range from 1990 to 2019 are analyzed. The major findings are as follows. First, based on OECD countries samples, female labor force participation is positively associated with the fertility rate, which implies that women's labor force participation does not lead to a reduction in fertility rate. Second, the length of paternity leave is positively associated with fertility rate whereas the direction is the opposite for the relationship between the length of maternity leave and fertility rate. This is attributed to the possibility that a longer period of maternity leave incurs the a higher opportunity cost of earning income, which leads to a reduced fertility rate. Third, countries with higher gender inequality index tend to have a higher fertility rate. Similarly, countries with higher gender equality value have a lower fertility rate. When the gender equality value is devideed into three sub-categories, education, politics, and employment, the gender equality value in education is the only sub-category which is negatively associated with the fertility rate. This study confirms that female labor force participation may not be a contributing factor in the lowering of fertility rate but instead can be positively associated with the fertility rate. Also, the results show that family policies or gender equality values can be significantly affect fertility rate.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.20 no.8
• /
• pp.251-261
• /
• 2020

This study aims to suggest a new perspective that can account for variations in fertility rates across OECD countries. Most previous literature has highlighted the influence of government policies on fertility rates. This study focuses the role of job strain, unequal division of household labor, and life satisfaction on fertility rates. These factors are related to work-life balance, and play a crucial role in understanding variations in fertility rates across OECD countries. Using fuzzy set qualitative comparative research analysis (fsQCA), this study tests whether fertility rates can be explained by differences in the levels of job strain, gender equality at home, and life satisfaction across countries. The results are as follows: First, high fertility-countries show low levels of job strain, equal division of household labor, high levels of life satisfaction, and high levels of GDP. Second, a high level of GDP is not crucial for achieving high fertility rates. This study suggests that changes in working conditions and organizational culture are required to increase the fertility rate in Korea, since this can influence work-life balance, life satisfaction and equal division of household labor.

• Korea journal of population studies
• /
• v.35 no.2
• /
• pp.73-101
• /
• 2012

This study attempts to assess the effects of childcare facilities and private education expenses on birth rate and also, to examine whether or not the quality and reliability of childcare facilities affect birth rate. Private education expenses are proxied by the number of private educational institutes or their employees. The study measures the quality and reliability of childcare facilities either by the number of employees per childcare facility or by the ratio of childcare facilities with less than 10 employees to total facilities. Empirical analysis is carried out with a cross-sectional data of 232 areas (si/gun/gu) in 2009. Empirical results indicate that the number of childcare facilities or their employees tended to increase birth rate, while private educational expenses had no effects on birth rate. It appears that the presence of good and reliable childcare facilities contributed to an increase in birth rate. The results provide several policy implications for an increase in fertility.

• Korea journal of population studies
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.59-85
• /
• 2009

본 연구는 최근 인구학에서 공간적 접근을 시도하는 논의들이 활발해지는 경향과 함께 지역 적합적 저출산 대응정책의 필요성의 대두라는 정책적 수요에 부합하고자 자녀출산계획에 있어 지역의 공간적 효과가 미치는 효과를 분석하였다. 또한, 기혼여성의 연령, 출산한 자녀의 수가 자녀를 출산할 계획을 가질 확률에 대한 비선형적 효과를 실증적으로 분석하였다. 다층모형과 같이 최근 지역연구에서 이용되고 있는 실증분석방법들의 한계점을 살펴보고, 그 대안으로 Geo-Additive Model을 적용하였다. 동 방법론은 한 모형 내에서 공간의 구조적 효과와 비구조적 효과, 연속형 변인의 비선형효과 등을 동시에 추정할 수 있다. 이를 위한 분석자료로 통계청의 2005년도 인구주택총조사의 마이크로데이터 중 2% B형 자료를 이용하였다. 분석결과 기혼여성이 자녀를 출산할 계획을 가질 확률에 기혼여성의 연령과 출산한 자녀의 수는 비선형적 효과를 주었으며, 특히 각 개인들은 현재의 출산 상태에서 자녀 한명을 추가로 출산하는 것이 동일한 부담으로 작용하지 않음을 알 수 있었다. 이를 통해 기혼여성들의 첫출산 시점이 결혼연령에 따라 차이가 있고 결혼코호트에 따라 다르더라도 첫출산 자체가 여전히 보편적인 현상이라는 가정을 받아들인다면, 출산율 제고를 위한 정책의 대상은 첫째아를 이미 출산한 여성들이 되어야 할 것으로 보인다. 또한, 자녀를 출산할 계획을 가질 확률에 지역의 구조적 공간효과가 유의미한 영향을 주는 것으로 분석되었다. 지역별 합계출산율의 공간 자기상관분석 결과와 비교해 본 결과 출산계획의 구조적 공간효과가 양의 효과를 미치는 지역에서는 실제 출산행위인 합계출산율도 높지만, 구조적 공간효과가 부적인 효과를 가지고 있는 지역에서는 합계출산율도 낮게 나타남을 알 수 있었다. 따라서 각 지방자치단체에서는 지자체들의 정책수요나 자원 및 재정의 부담능력 등 지역별 차이를 고려하지 않은 일률적인 정책의 추진을 지양하고, 지역 특수성을 고려하여 지역에 적합한 출산정책을 추진해야 할 것이다.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.97-110
• /
• 2012

The sharp decline of fertility in industrialized countries since the 19th century constitutes a major problem for evolutionary approaches to human behavior. Why would people voluntarily reduce their total number of offspring, despite the fact that resources are so abundant in modern times? Here I review three evolutionary hypotheses for low fertility in modern societies, and discuss how the evolutionary perspective could shed new light on solving the problem of low fertility in Korea. Low fertility may be 1) a maladaptive outcome from the mismatch between our ancestral environments and evolutionarily novel environments, 2) a consequence of gene-culture coevolution where traits that reduce genetic fitness can still spread through a population as a result of imitation, especially if the traits are expressed by high-status people, or 3) an adaptation that maximize parents' long-term genetic fitness in knowledge-based industrialized societies where high parental investment is required for rearing competitive offspring. Based on these considerations, I suggest how the evolutionary explanations of low fertility can be applied to increasing the birth rate in Korea.

• Korea journal of population studies
• /
• v.30 no.3
• /
• pp.137-156
• /
• 2007

Total fertility rate (TFR) increased from the lowest 1.08 in 2005 to 1.13 in 2006, and a debate is made whether the increase is temporary or continuous as a result of various pro-natal policies. This study intends to explore policy implications revealed in recent fertility change using vital statistics. For this purpose, tempo-adjusted fertility rate by birth order, fertility rate by age of mother and birth order, age-specific fertility for married, and age-specific divorce rate for married are analyzed. The increase of TFR and births for 2006 is largely due to increase of first births at early thirties with slowdown of delayed first marriage and first child birth. The increase of female population (the third wave effect of baby boom) and first marriages of late twenties in 2006 and 2007 would lead to increase of fertility during 2007-2008. But further increase is uncertain because of the decrease trend of marital fertility and increase trend of never-married for twenties. TFRs for first and second births reduced rapidly, while TFRs for third and above births showed no changes, and second births were largely affected by tempo adjustment of fertility. Thus, constructing social environment for first and second births is more effective and necessary than encouraging third births. In addition, social responsibility of child care, child-women health issues due to delayed births, and the need for multi-cultural family support system are discussed.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.14 no.6
• /
• pp.162-173
• /
• 2014

Among OECD countries, Korea is the only country which has continuously recorded total birthrate below 1.3 person for over 10 years. Since 2006, the Korean government has promoted the population policy in full scale. But, the fertility rate which became low has not shown any sign to go up again. Thus, Korea can be understood as having fallen into 'low fertility trap'. Such a low fertility can cause serious problems such as weakening of national competitive power and even survival of the country. In Korea, due to studies and finding jobs among young women, their childbirths are kept being postponed. In some cases, poor working conditions where women work can cause physical conditions not appropriate for pregnancy. Thus, it is very important to let childbearing women, pregnant women take care of their health. Accordingly, conscious of this low fertility era, this study examined major international organizations and countries' health promoting strategies-with focus on motherhood and suggested some methods to effectively improve health for motherhood.