Number of Newborn Babies Reach Lowest Ever: South Korea’s Growth Engine Dies Down(Kyunghyang)
The total number of newborn babies this year has recorded the lowest ever as of April. If this trend continues, the number of babies born this year is expected to drop below the lowest annual figure of 435,031 (2005). The number of marriages has also sharply declined compared to last year, so the low birth rate trend is expected to worsen. The country is stuck in a marsh of slow growth and the number of newborn babies continues to drop every year. On top of that, as the productive population also heads downward, the South Korean economy is likely to see its growth engine deteriorate. Some experts even claim that the government’s policies to encourage childbirth and support childcare are actually fueling the current low fertility phenomenon.

“The Vicious Cycle of Slow Growth: The Problem of the Low Birth Rate” Due to the falling birth rate, the number of newborn babies this year is expected to reach a record-breaking low. An empty baby bed is seen in a neonatal unit at Cheil General Hospital in Jung-gu, Seoul on June 23. Kim Chang-gil

According to the “April Population Trend” released by Statistics Korea on June 23, only 35,300 babies were born in April, a 7.3% decrease from a year ago. This is the lowest monthly figure since they began collecting statistics in 2000. The decrease rate compared to the same month last year was also the biggest since November 2013 (-12.3%). The total number of babies born from January to April this year was 137,900, a 5.2% (8,100) decrease from the same period last year (156,000). The total number of newborn babies from January to April was smaller than the same period in 2005, the year that saw the smallest number of newborn babies (153,800). At this rate, we are likely to break that record this year.

The only local area where the number of newborn babies increased from January to April was Sejong-si. Daejeon saw its figures decrease by 11.8% and Seoul (-5.4%) and Gyeonggi-do (-5.2%) also witnessed a big drop in the number of newborn babies. Given that the reason for the increase in Sejong was because of special factors such as the relocation of government departments and national research institutes, the number of newborn babies is actually decreasing nationwide.

This is because young people are reluctant to get married and have children due to the economic recession and the growing housing prices. The number of marriages this year from January to April was 94,200, 6.9% less than the previous year (101,200). If the number of marriages thus drops, it will be difficult to expect the number of newborn babies to rise next year.

By next year, the number of children 14 years and younger will fall below the number of senior citizens aged 65 and older in South Korea, and the productive population (15-64) will decrease for the first time. The country is in desperate need of measures to slow down the rapid decrease in the population, but the government is only fueling distrust in childbirth and childcare policies with the recent controversy surrounding “customized childcare (limiting the time families can put their children aged 0-2 in childcare to six hours a day for single-income families)” following the conflict over the Nuri program. The government released a series of policies that raised labor intensity, such as performance-based salaries and easier layoffs, while neglecting to secure and expand the social safety net. Thus the nation is farther away from creating an environment where people can give birth to a child with peace of mind.

Jang Jin-hee, a research fellow at Seoul Foundation of Women & Family said, “When we analyze the reason people put off pregnancy and childbirth, the number one reason is economic conditions such as expensive housing prices and the cost of child-rearing. After giving birth to their first child and experiencing the difficulties in infant care, childcare, education, and also in keeping their careers, couples tend to give up on the idea of having a second child.”

Read more: http://english.khan.co.kr/khan_art_view.html?artid=201606241828547&code=710100#csidxfbef9840a23bc7381367fffd6f70194

#birth_rate #Korea #economic_choice?

[20 Years of the Population Cliff: Lessons from Japan]
South Korea’s Decrease in Population, More Serious than Japan

#Korea #population #low_birthrate #aging

Jang (31) had worked as an after-school instructor, but recently failed to renew her contract. Although she has a boyfriend, she has no thoughts of marriage. Jang said, “I don’t earn a lot of money and my status is unstable because it’s a temporary job, so it’s difficult to think about marriage.” She said, “It’s a bit gloomy alone, but I can lower my expectations and adjust to the environment, but if I start a family, I’ll have to get a house and things will be a lot more difficult.”

Population pyramid of Sourt Korea(2020)

The fertility rate in South Korea has been extremely low, less than 1.3 children per woman (the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime), for fifteen years in a row since 2001. The government presented measures for the low birthrate and aging of our society since 2005, but the birthrate remains at the bottom among a list of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries.

South Korea’s fertility rate has sharply declined in a short period of time. The birthrate, which was 6.0 children in 1960, dropped to 2.1 children, nearly the replacement fertility rate, in 1983. Then in 1998, it dropped to 1.45 children, 1.3 children in 2001 and 1.08 children in 2005. In 2007, the fertility rate rebounded slightly to 1.25, but as of 2014 (1.21), it has yet to recover to 1.3 children.

South Korea had implemented a “basic plan for the low birthrate and an aging society” on two occasions, first in 2006-2010 and second in 2011-2015, but it failed to present an effective policy response. Jo Seong-ho, assistant research fellow at the Population Policy Research Department at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs announced in the report, “Status of and Policy for the Low Fertility Rate in South Korea and Japan” released last November, “The problem about South Korea’s policy response to the low fertility rate is that they focus on married families such as those concerning childbirth and childcare, and that the scale of the policy is too small.”

The third basic plan for the low birthrate and an aging society (2016-2020) accepted such criticism and include some measures to relieve the socio-economic reasons why young people hesitate or give up on marriage. Specifically, the plan includes measures to stimulate youth employment and strengthen housing support for newlyweds. The direction of the plans has improved, but its effectiveness still remains controversial.

Stimulating youth employment, which is the key in the government’s low birthrate measures, has as its premise the government’s “labor reforms,” but if such reforms, which have the risk of increasing employment instability by increasing the number of temporary jobs, are carried out, it is doubtful as to whether the younger generation will be able to find peace and have children. Jeong Jun-yeong, director of policy at the Youth Union said, “Measures to stimulate youth employment in the government’s third basic plan is only a low-birthrate version of the labor reforms that the Park Geun-hye government has been trying to push.”

Korea’s income inequality worst in Asia

The IMF’s Analysis of Inequality in Asia report said Korea’s top 10 percent income class accounted for 45 percent of the country’s total income.

In 2013, the top 1 percent in emerging Asia earned 32 percent of the income share, compared to 30 percent in 1990. The share for the top decile in South Korea rose 5 percentage points over the measured period, the largest among the countries studied, reaching 12 percent in 2013.

“This development has been attributed to rapid aging, large wage gaps for regular and nonregular workers and gender occupational inequality,” the report said.

#Korea #income_inequality

Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to toughen sanctions doctors who re-used disposable syringe, but is it the solution to the sequel of commercialized health care?

#iatrogenic_infection #health_care #commercialization

“Welfare policy still adrift” (Korea Times)

It’s politics, not policy.

‪#‎welfare‬, ‪#‎financing‬, ‪#‎neoliberalism‬

“Korea Passed New Law for Promotion of Medical Tourism”

Is medical tourism new (but small) medical imperialism?

‪#‎Korea‬, ‪#‎medical_tourism‬, ‪#‎neoliberalism‬, ‪#‎globalization‬

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA

4 December 2015 – 2:30pm

Jung Suk-yee

The Act on Overseas Medical Expansion and Foreign Patient Attraction Support passed the plenary session of the National Assembly on Dec. 2. It is expected that the act will allow more than 160 domestic medical institutions to go abroad and at least 500,000 foreign patients to visit Korea by 2017.

According to the act, medical institutions wishing to go abroad can benefit from financial and tax incentives based on relevant laws such as the Export-Import Bank of Korea Act. Similar benefits go to agencies attracting foreign patients, too. In addition, medical advertisements are allowed at duty-free stores, airports, ports and the like and those patients returning to their countries after treatments in Korea can get follow-up services in their countries by means of telemedicine. The globalization of Korea’s medical industry is expected to result in the creation of up to 50,000 jobs a year.

The medical tourism market of Korea is growing at a rapid pace these days but still lagging behind those of Thailand, Singapore, etc. Over two million foreign tourists visit Thailand a year and the size of its medical tourism market already exceeds 3 trillion won (US$3 billion). Likewise, more than one million people arrive in Singapore each year for the same purpose. Medical Tourism in India, Malaysia and the Philippines are showing a double-digit growth and the Japanese and Chinese governments are trying hard to catch up with them.

Experts point out that Korea needs to provide personalized medical services, work on diverse medical tourism resources and build specialized brands if it is to remain in the game. According to the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade, Korea ranks 19^th out of the 34 OECD member countries in terms of overall medical tourism competitiveness. Specifically, Korea ranks second in facility and equipment, fourth in medical service, ninth in technological level but 31^st in human resources and 33^rd in industrial growth potential.

A key solution to this problem is digital healthcare characterized by telemedicine. In this regard, Korea signed cooperation agreements with the Czech Republic, Vietnam, the Philippines, Peru, Brazil and China this year. The Severance Hospital, Gacheon Gil Hospital, Hanyang University Hospital and many more are expected to expand their business abroad based on the MOUs.

Digital healthcare will provide personalized healthcare and medical services by combining medical care with ICT. The medical industry is focusing on it as a new paradigm because it can contribute to disease prevention and management, higher medical service quality and lower medical costs. Korea, which is home to excellent medical workers and advanced ICT, can get the inside track in this field

– See more at: http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/english/news/industry/13199-medical-industry-act-korea-passed-new-law-promotion-medical-tourism#sthash.W3haN3nA.dpuf

Republic of Korea Health System Review

Health Systems in Transition. Vol.5 No.4 2015,

Asia Pacific Observatory on Health Systems and Policies

Abstract

The Republic of Korea has achieved a rapid improvement in health outcomes thanks to economic development and universal health coverage through national health insurance. It achieved universal coverage of the population in 1989, just 12 years after the introduction of social health insurance. In 2000, all insurance schemes were merged into a single payer with a uniform contribution schedule and benefits coverage. Despite universal coverage of the population, financial protection and high OOP payments have remained a key policy issue. Health-care delivery relies heavily on private providers. This system induces demand for new, though sometimes not cost-effective, services and technologies not yet in the national health insurance benefit package because they are not subject to fee regulation. The referral system does not function well in the private sector-dominated delivery system. Tension between private providers and the Government has been substantial, and providers have been a stumbling block to health care reforms such as the prospective payment system. In contrast to rapid economic growth and decreasing inequality until the 1980s, inequality has been increasing since the 1990s. Policy to reduce the inequality in health care and health outcomes should be a priority for the Government. Rapid ageing of the population is a challenge to the health-care system, and the new long-term care insurance improves access for older people to long-term care. Coordination between hospitals and long-term care facilities along with strengthening of primary health care and gatekeeping can contribute to the continuum of care to meet the needs of an older population.