기혼부부의 무자녀 선택과 정책과제

Abstract

이 연구는 성인 남녀가 결혼하면 대부분 자녀를 출산하는 것이 자연스러웠던 과거와는 다르게 최근에는 결혼했음에도 자녀를 낳지 않는 부부가 증가하고 있는 현상을 배경으로, 무자녀 부부의 특성과 무자녀 선택에 영향을 미치는 요인에 대해 분석하고, 이들에 대한 정책과제를 도출하는 것을 목적으로 이루어졌다.

우리나라 무자녀 부부의 특징은 이전에는 교육수준이 높을수록 무자녀 비중이 높았던 반면, 최근에는 교육수준이 낮을수록 무자녀 비중이 높아지는 것으로 나타난 점이었으며, 이것은 영미 및 유럽과 반대되는 결과였다. 교육수준 이외에 무자녀 선택에 영향을 미치는 중요한 요인은 초혼연령으로 나타났다. 이것은 결혼이 늦어질수록 남은 가임기간이 감소하기 때문인 것으로 생각해 볼 수 있다.

정책과제는 사회경제적인 이유로 인하여 자발적으로 무자녀를 선택한 경우와 가임이 어려워 비자발적으로 무자녀를 선택한 경우로 나누어 제시하였다.

Unlike in the past when adult men and women would naturally have children once married, the number of married couples without children is increasing in recent years. This research was done with the purpose of deriving policy measures for them. An important factor in choosing childless was the level of education and the age of first marriage. The childless status showed that the lower the education level is and the higher the first marriage age is, the higher the childless ratio would be. And the regression analyses of childless choice revealed that the lower the education level is, the higher the probability is of becoming childless or continuing to remain childless, and the higher the age of first marriage is, the higher the probability is of becoming childless. However, in the case of foreign countries, the higher the education level is, the greater the likelihood is of choosing life without children, whereas in Korea, the opposite effect was found. Perhaps this is because the environment for raising children in Korea is different from that of other countries. In Korea, due to the high burden of raising children, the tendency is to prioritize one’s own life and career without children as the costs of child support are also high. The policy measures were drawn mainly for the cases of childless life due to external and physical factors. First of all is to create a society suitable for raising children, which implies a wide variety of factors. This was largely due to the very large burden of such costs as especially the cost of childcare, school tuition, and private education expenses, so that it is impossible to work while raising children. You will need it above all else. And, for the couples who have to involuntarily choose childless, the policy goal should be to support them to have children at no extra cost even in the process of pregnancy, on an equal basis to those who have children, rather than approaching them from an economical point of view. In the mid-to long term, it is necessary to deeply consider the tax system by family type, and to establish a support system for infertility testing for all the newlyweds.