Korea's Population Policy: History and Future

Abstract

◈ 인구증가억제정책의 주요 내용 분석 ◈ 인구증가정책의 주요 내용 분석 ◈ 인구정책 관련 선진국 및 국제기구에서 발간한 각종 자료 분석 ◈ 향후 인구정책의 전망제시

As when a population is not at a desired level in size or ill-composed, it can negatively affect the society, most governments aim at creating and maintaining policies to respond to population changes in an informed and reasonable manner. Korea adopted population policy for the first time in 1961, when the government incorporated the policy into the first Economic Development Plan, after judging that economic development could not be achieved without keeping the increasing population in check. So, the first population policy aimed at reducing population because the fertility rate at the time was higher than desirable, but sometime after the fertility rate had started to fall below the replacement fertility, the focus of the policy has been shifted to increasing population to maintain an optimum population level conducive to socioeconomic development. The total fertility rate(TFR) in Korea in 1960 was 6.0, close to the level of the natural fertility rate. However, strong initiative from the government to control childbearing through the family plan since 1961, changes in people's lifestyle brought by socioeconomic development, decreased infant mortality, and changes in values towards children have all contributed to the rapid decrease of the fertility rate. By 1984, the TFR had plummeted to 2.1, which is the replacement fertility rate, and had since kept decreasing to 1.12 by 2006, which was then the world's lowest fertility rate. There has since been some increase, but it still remains the world's lowest. Naturally, Korean government's main concern is how to raise its low fertility rate. Thus, it is important to look at population policies implemented in the past and those of advanced countries, and based on that, develop and put into practice efficient population policies to raise the country's fertility rate. Here, we review the history of Korea's population policy, examine population policies of advanced foreign countries, and suggest the direction in which Korea's population policy should head.