increase birth rate

Despite declaring a “National Emergency”, the government is lost in its own contradictions

Disappointed is the word that best defines the South Korean government when we talk about demographics. With a birth rate of 0.72 children per woman, the country’s data is one of the worst in the world. And nothing seems to indicate that the situation will improve on its own.

so they don’t stop Fund projects and look for ideas To reverse this trend: The final solution is to have girls start school a year earlier than normal. Only girls.

Girls, boys and vice versa. The proposal appears in a report by the Korean Institute of Public Finance and, As explained by The Guardianargues that “creating a one-year age difference between girls and boys in school would make them more attractive to each other by the time they reach marriageable age.”

The idea behind the proposal is that, one way or another, creating school groups based on maturity rather than date of birth will help young people find themselves “more mutually attractive” when they reach a suitable age for marriage.

The controversy is not long in coming. The proposal has generated an intense debate not only because of the idea of ​​”using children as a reproductive tool”, but also because the report does not provide much data, models or simulations on the possible effectiveness of the measure. Public opinion is beginning to wonder how it is possible that such a public research institution keeps its eyes closed. without agreeing that measures “must be fundamental and multi-layered” to “create an appropriate environment for the upbringing of children”.

The Institute, on its part, It is made clear in the report “This does not necessarily reflect his official view on government measures to increase the birth rate.” But none of this (which has been construed as a way of keeping himself in profile) has silenced the criticism. And, beyond the bizarre nature of the proposal, it makes clear what the real problem is.

The country is immersed in despair. In recent years, South Korea Haven’t skimped on “crazy” ideas to stop demographic bleeding. For example, it was proposed Exemption from compulsory military service All men who had three or more children before the age of 30, Abolish the minimum wage for foreign domestic workers To “relieve” the cost for families Additional Taxes For those who decide not to have children.

This summer, without going further, a hundred Filipino domestic workers They will arrive in the country In a pilot program designed to ease the pressure on working women (who don’t want to leave work to care for their children). If Korea’s demographic outlook is bleak, some solutions are on the table They enter dystopian territory,

The great social laboratory of the future. The problem is that no one knows how to solve the big problem for which we are not prepared: the world is becoming empty. In fact, we have already crossed the psychological line that will mark the global demographic contraction. And we do not know if we can continue it.

This is the big question that will mark the future of South Korea and the rest of the world.

Image | WatchSmart

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