In light of Europe's declining birthrate, Pope Francis has urged Italians to have bigger families.
In a speech on Friday, the Pope urged long-term measures to support families and issued a dire warning about the future being threatened by the nation's demographic crisis.
“The number of births is the first indicator of the hope of a people. Without children and young people, a country loses its desire for the future.”
Francis made his most recent plea on Italy, as well as the rest of Europe, to reverse what he has dubbed the demographic winter that many industrialised nations are currently experiencing.Italy has one of the lowest birth rates in the world, and it has been declining gradually for the past 15 years. Last year, there were 379,000 births, a record low.
Another country impacted by low fertility rates is South Korea.
South Korea's fertility rate declined in 2023, as women concerned about their career advancement and the financial cost of raising children decided to delay childbirth or to not have babies.
The average number of expected babies for a South Korean woman during her reproductive life fell to a record low of 0.72 from 0.78 in 2022, Statistics Korea reported on Wednesday.
The rate needed for a steady population is 2.1 per woman. The rates reported are well below the rate of 1.24 in 2015, when concern about issues such as the cost of housing and education were lower.
This is despite the government investing more than 360tn won ($270bn) in programmes since 2006 to encourage couples to have more children, including cash subsidies, babysitting services, and support for infertility treatment.
Why is South Korea's birth rate falling?
The declining fertility rate has been driven by a number of reasons. In South Korea, being married is seen as a prerequisite to having children. However, marriages are also declining in the country, meaning that many are not having children.
"There are people who don't get married but we think about why married couples choose not to have babies, and my understanding is that addressing that part is going to be the focus of our policies (to boost the birth rate)," an official at Statistics Korea told a briefing.
South Korea also has the worst gender pay gap in the OECD. Korean women bring home about two-thirds of the income of men.
This means that women cannot continue to build on their career experience when having children, as "they are often... the only one doing the childcare (and) often need to rejoin the workforce after extended leaves," Jung Jae-hoon, a professor at Seoul Women's University, told Reuters.
What are the lowest fertility rates across the world?
These are the lowest fertility rates across the world, according to 2023 data from the CIA.
Taiwan (1.09)
South Korea (1.11)
Singapore (1.17)
Ukraine (1.22)
Hong Kong (1.23)
Macau (1.23)
Italy (1.24)
Moldova (1.25)
Puerto Rico (1.25)
Spain (1.29)
What are fertility rates and how are they calculated?
Experts also look at the stats for a country’s fertility rate. The fertility rate measures the average number of children that women of childbearing age give birth to in a given country. Fertility rate and birth rate are often used together to help determine a country’s replacement rate, which determines if the number of new citizens born each year is higher or lower than the number of citizens who pass away each year. Population growth or shrinkage can have a significant impact on a country’s development and economic stability.
What measures have these countries taken?
Countries are trying to make having babies seem more appealing to prospective parents in a bid to increase their birth rates.
In South Korea, almost $121 billion (£99 billion) has been pumped into measures to increase the rate, establishing public daycare centres, free nurseries, as well as subsidised childcare for a child’s first year in education.
In October 2019, the government announced an expansion to existing parental-leave policies and parents with children below the age of eight are now allowed to spend one less hour at work each day. Cash subsidies for parents with young children have even been expanded to include the richest 10 per cent of the population.
In Singapore, parents are encouraged to have babies with cash bonuses.
The country’s National Population and Talent Division has cited the fact that Singaporeans “are increasingly prioritising other goals, such as furthering their education, building their careers, and travel" over having children, to explain why birth rates are falling.
The current rate stands at 1.26 children per woman and, to reverse the trend, billions have been spent on enhanced parental-leave programmes, tax rebates for more children, as well as benefits for working mothers whose parents look after their grandchildren.
To make it easier for grandparents to get involved, the government offers a generous Proximity Housing Grant (PHG) of $30,000 (£25,000) for families purchasing somewhere to live with or near (within 4km) their parents or children.
There is also a baby bonus cash gift of $8,000 (£7,000) for the first and second child and $10,000 (£8,500) for every subsequent birth. Singapore publicises policies like these on www.heybaby.sg and there are even promotional campaigns at rail stations offering fertility information painted on the concourse featuring slogans like, "The earlier you plan, the easier it is to conceive".
In 2022, China’s Health Commission announced measures to improve pre- and post-natal services in an effort to encourage people to have children.
They also urged both central and provincial governments to “implement active fertility-support measures, including offering tax rebates, better health insurance and education, as well as housing and employment support for young families." Last year, the government also offered young newlyweds 30 days of paid holiday in an effort to boost the country’s falling birth rate.
