Economic Impact and Countermeasures to the Demographic Cliff Due to the Low Birthrate and Aging Population

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Korea is one of the countries where the ‘demographic cliff’ is becoming a reality at the fastest rate. The birth rate in Korea has been decreasing since the 1960s and the fertility rate of 2021 was 0.81, the lowest in the world. There are a variety of reasons, including rising prices and adverse effects on parental leave for women.Also,the cost of education is 260 million won per person, so childcare and education expenses are the biggest reasons for the low birth rate

While economic growth has benefited from the ‘demographic bonus’, the likelihood of growth slowdown is increasing due to the ‘demographic onus’. However, countermeasures about this are insufficient. In foreign countries that are experiencing population cliffs before Korea, a decrease in labor force and a decrease in consumption demand were founded.

As a solution to this, it had positive effects on securing insufficient labor and increasing consumption demand from solve the problems by ways of birth encouragement policies, employment of female workers, more jobs for the elderly and on influx of immigrants.

Korea also needs to encourage childbirth to overcome the low birth rate by referring to these cases. For this,we need a compatible and non-discriminatory acceptance of work and family for various families. In addition, support for the influx of immigrants to secure the labor force, the utilization of the elderly labor force, and the economic stability for young people are necessary needed. As a more detailed solution, support is also needed to secure food, clothing, shelter, education, and safety, such as expanding childrens teaching opportunities and supporting childcare assistants.As such, there are many solutions for low birth rates, but it seems to be effective only when this proceeds at the same time.