Local governments in Taiwan and South Korea reported success in sparking a birthrate revival.
East Asia has among the world’s fastest-declining birth rates, with some countries already experiencing overall population decline. Hwacheon, near the South Korea-North Korea border, achieved a fertility rate 1.5 times the admittedly bottom-scraping national average, after offering university tuition fees for children born in the county, Nikkei reported. In Taiwan, one county issued large baby subsidies, and saw its birthrate double to the nation’s highest.
The success remains limited — even Hwacheon is far below the 2.1 required for replacement — but it adds to evidence that pro-parent policies can stem population decline; previous, more modest, subsidies “have been fairly successful,” Works in Progress reported.
